by Rich Moreland, April, 2019
Some interviews at adult trade shows are arranged via PR firms while others are off-the-cuff pickups gained through networking. At this year’s Adult entertainment Expo we had two valuable talks with camming couples we met on the floor.
Photos credited to Kevin Sayers.
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Tom and Honey are cammers who operate online through Chaturbate. To say they are comfortable in their own skin (and that of their partner’s!) is an understatement. Not only do they have a loyal following, they have an exceptional understanding of the camming business model.
“Our live broadcasts drive the clip sales,” Tom responds. “When we’re online people see us, they talk to us. They have that connection.” Out of that comes a built-in marketing advantage, he adds, because fans will ask about the vids they shot on location in Las Vegas or Miami, for example.
Honey reinforces what Tom says. “People who want to directly talk to you. They want that interaction. They want to know you as a person,” whereas other fans just want “to see you performing the sexual acts.” They’ll buy the clips.
This division between the active and passive fan is common among cammers, as we’ve discovered.
Amateur Porn?
Tom mentions the importance of content with time and effort the necessary ingredients to produce a good show. What they shoot is never going to be of Evil Angel quality, he says, but that’s okay because “we are never competing with mainstream porn companies.”
Are cammers making amateur porn?
“We are the amateurs!” Tom asserts. There’s a market for fans who don’t want the professional look. They like “the slightly shaky camera,” Tom says, and the feeling that they are “filming” the show.
On the other hand, cam production is improving. Tom explains that their equipment parallels the big studios. They have tripods and gimbals. Plus, they shoot in 4K and employ the “same editing software that the pro companies use.”
In other words, the quality gap is not that large, he declares.
Considering that, are cammers becoming the new professionals? Will today’s amateur be tomorrow’s pro?
Taking Over
Honey seems to think so. It’s “a very hot topic right now. People are saying that cammers are taking over,” she says.
She implies that camming is moving into the porn orbit and points out the cammer’s advantages.
“You can come here [the trade show] to see them [porn stars], but you can’t sit and talk to them face-to-face for hours like I do with my fans . . . [We give them] more because we offer the videos and the one-on-one interaction. They get to know who we are as people.”
Then cammers are the people next door having a little fun. Right?
In chorus, Tom and Honey respond with “exactly.”
Cammers are tilting the amateur in the direction of the professional?
They repeat with a resounding “yes.”
A Step Ahead
Regarding cammers and porn performers challenging each other’s space, Tom says, “it’s easier for the cammers and amateurs to go professional versus the professional coming back to camming.”
The mainstream porn girls have everything “taken care for them,” he adds. “They just show up and do their scene” with no concern for lighting, camera quality, editing, and the like.
“We have to figure that out,” he exclaims, which puts the cam world a step ahead of porn performers. “All of a sudden they [porn models] have to learn how to do everything” if they want to cam.
Of course, there are the usual reservations mainstream performers have about camming, time and schedule being the most important. Does this mean the two porn worlds—camming and mainstream—will never come together because they are different mindsets?
Certain they won’t, Honey says, “yes, I would agree with that most definitely!”
Who Decides?
Tom brings up an significant issue that separates a cam show from a professional shoot. For a sex act in real time, who determines the direction of the presentation and the timing of individual moments as the show evolves?
For instance, he mentions the pop shot. Where is it going to be? A facial or a creampie?
“We allow them (the fans) to vote on things like that.” Tom says, making everyone online a director.
Finally, what is on the horizon for the adult industry and camming?
An important change, Tom believes. Camming “is going to be the easier way to get into the [porn] business,” he states.
“It gives you the freedom to enter the industry from anywhere” as opposed to mainstream porn that requires shooting in Miami, Las Vegas, or LA.
Best of all, camming sex “allows you to be a porn star in your own home!” Tom exclaims. What could be more convenient?
Honey concludes our conversation with, “Camming is a really good way to get a feel for the industry if this is where you want to be. . . .”
Exactly. And that leads us to our next cam couple. Let’s see what they have to say.