LAS VEGAS—It took less than 10 minutes for the first cryptocurrency panelists ever at Internext to answer what many were wondering: am I too late?
“If anything, it’s still a little early,” said Bryan Larkin, the founder and CEO of Skylab Technology and an early investor in digital assets.
Larkin joined seven other featured speakers Sunday at the anticipated seminar that became the tone-setter for Day 2 of the largest webmaster conference in North America at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
The group reached a general consensus that webmasters should be accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment if they are not already.
“It’s really a no-brainer,” Larkin said. “Get on the bandwagon now. Do it now, before you end up with high merchant fees.”
Moderator Corey Silverstein, the Michigan-based adult industry attorney, led a spirited discussion about the surging global phenomenon that without question is one of the hottest topics of the 18th annual Internext Expo—presented by TrafficJunky, AdultForce and AgeID—that continues through Monday.
Stuart Duncan (Vice Token), Leah Callon-Butler (Intimate), Markus Steffen (Eroiy), Lawrence Walters (Walters Law Group), Mike Ackerman (Actually Helping) and Lauren MacEwen (7 Veils) also took the seminar stage, sponsored by CamBuilder, in front of a standing-room crowd at Festival Hall C inside the Paradise Tower.
Larkin pointed out that another practical reason to begin accepting cryptocurrency is that age verification is on the blockchain, creating an identifiable record that the people viewing your content are over 18.
MacEwen, who runs a social media firm and is a crypto investor, noted, “Every coin has a purpose; every coin is trying to solve some kind of problem. Ask yourself, what is the technology? What is this trying to fix?”
Duncan, meanwhile, who has started some of the top adult brands in broadcast and cable, said he considers his market for Vice Token “everybody in the world using a tube site or using a website.”
“I think my market is 750 million people worldwide,” Duncan added, noting he sees big potential in countries such as Japan, Korea and India.
Indeed, the opening round of Internext 2018 seminars reflected some of the biggest trends in adult entertainment as additional sessions focused on custom clips, the pot & porn connection and age verification each packed the conference hall. Meanwhile, four heavyweight attorneys gave attendees the latest information about the most pressing legal issues facing the industry today; and the essential guide to payment processing rounded out a full afternoon of education.
A dream team of lawyers—Paul Cambria, Greg Piccionelli, Lawrence Walters and Corey Silverstein—offered insights into the current legal climate as well as recommended best practices.
Cambria said adult business transactions deserve the same level of attention to detail as non-adult ones, emphasizing that copyrights, trademarks, contracts and model releases are important to cover yourself.
“Do it the right way or there’s a lot of money involved if you don’t,” Cambria told the audience.
Piccionelli, keeping with one of the topics of the day, suggested “the industry should move as quickly possible to cryptocurrency because of what’s going to happen” with the conservative US Justice Department in place.
“One of the ways to get a lot of bang for the buck delivered to the religious right is if all of a sudden a whole lot of adult websites find themselves without payment processing,” Piccionelli said. “I see cryptocurrencies as kind of an insurance policy for the business.”
As more adult talent takes control of their brands by creating custom content, clip sites have made a profound impact on the market. So one of the most anticipated panels of the afternoon was the “Clips Nation” session that took a deep dive into benefits of mastering your clip game.
The all-star panel included Jay Phillips (iWantEmpire), Bratty Nikki (iWantEmpire), Dariusz (Clips4Sale), Andrea Fioriniello (ModelCentro) and Lexi Sindel (FemDomEmpire); Jay Kopita (YNOT) moderated the group.
Dariusz said it’s important to “be original” and not copy others with your content.
“The beauty of our clip site is you will learn very quickly if you’re producing what people want,” Dariusz said. “The biggest problem I see people do is you release 10 movies and you sit back and wait for money to come.”
Jay Phillips, the CEO of iWantEmpire, suggested every performer in today’s industry should have a clip store.
“Any artist that is filming content you definitely need to have a clip store,” Phillips said. “Owning content is owning your future.”
Bratty Nikki, a model who is the president and co-founder of iWantEmpire, said she has found that 6 to 8 minutes is the sweet spot for the length of her clips, “but I do believe it’s different for every model.”
In terms of figuring which site is ideal for your brand, Fioriniello reasoned, “it’s the same concept as media buying. Do some tests, you never know until you test the different platforms.”
Phillips wowed the crowd with some numbers, noting the largest single-day payout for an artist on iWantClips last year was $121,000; the largest monthly payout was $154,000.
“We believe our artists are worth millions, not small amounts,” Phillips said, emphasizing consistency in posting clips.
“Artists don’t lose fans from the industry, they lose fans from their brand. There is a 600 to 800 percent increase for a consistent artist rather than for a sporadic artist.”
The Age Verification panel, assembled to help attendees prepare for the looming UK Digital Economy Act in April, showcased remarks from Murray Perkins (British Board of Film Classification), David Cooke (Mindgeek/AgeID), Ian Green (Aristotle Integrity Group), Alastair Graham (AgeChecked), Steve Winyard (AVSecure), Warren Russell (AVyourself) and Tim Henning (ASACP). MojoHost CEO Brad Mitchell, a 2018 inductee into the AVN Hall of Fame - Internet Founders Branch, moderated the discussion.
The BBFC’s Perkins said the Digital Economy Act “is not anti porn legislation” as some perceive it to be.
“It is not designed or intended to disrupt the industry any more than putting the controls in place,” Perkins said.
AVyourself’s Warren Russell added, “It’s about transparency.”
Steve Winyard said that between 25-30 million are trying to access adult content, noting that “people generally are fearful of entering in any personal data to access adult content.”
His AVSecure platform is built on a blockchain so the personal data is kept private.
Meanwhile, the second-ever Pot & Porn Panel at Internext featured John Kent (Jardin Premium Dispensary), Russell Bleck (High Times), David J. Allen (Mezz Brands), Actual Mike Ackerman (Actually Helping) and Lauren MacEwen (7 Veils). Stewart Tongue (EngineFood.com) moderated the session.
In spite of Attorney General Jeff Sessions issuing an order on Jan. 4 that ended federal "hands-off" policies for states that have legalized pot for either medical or personal recreational use, the legal marijuana industry remains undeterred.
“It’s actually galvanized this community,” said David Allen of Mezz Brands.
In making the announcement, Senior Justice Department officials "stressed that they wanted U.S. attorneys, who are assigned to districts around the country, to use their discretion to determine whether someone should face federal charges for a marijuana offense."
Sessions’ elimination of Obama-era policies stopping federal authorities from enforcing anti-pot laws in states that legalize the drug has the potential to end or at least slow the trend toward nationwide marijuana legalization; and make pot users and retailers in states where use is legal vulnerable to arrest by the feds.
The moderator Tongue noted, “the closer you get to the product the greater your liability.”
Meanwhile, the Billing Trends panel—last but not least on Sunday—brought out several seasoned executives in the space: Harmik Gharapetian (Epoch), Wendy Nelson (NETbilling), Matt Mund (Mobius Payments), Gary Jackson (CCBill) and Karen Campbell (OrbitalPay). Actual Mike Ackerman moderated the savvy vets.
Ackerman asked the panelists to share something of their choosing with the audience that they thought was important.
Gharapetian told the Internext crowd the critical nature of the UK age verification law cannot be overstated.
“Start looking into that because you are going to lose your traffic from the UK if you don’t have a solution,” Gharapetian said.
Campbell pointed to mobile payments, noting that 60 to 80 percent of all transactions now are done on smartphones.
“If you have a website that’s not mobile ready, you lose a lot of business,” Campbell said.
NETbilling’s Nelson said pay-sites are making a comeback.
“And people are lacking in the area of customer support when it comes to the pay-site model,” Nelson said.
Matt Mund added, “Don’t just accept the chargebacks, talk with your payment provider. There are multiple strategies you can put in place.”
Internext 2018 continues Monday with six more panels—VR, Traffic, Dating, Live Cams, State of Gay and State of the Industry—and the closing keynote address by Nick Chretien from CrakRevenue. The annual GFY Awards gala will follow on Monday night in Vinyl.
Pictured from left: Lexi Sindel, Dariusz, Jay Phillips, Bratty Nikki, Andrea Fioriniello and Jay Kopita on the "Clip Nation" panel.
For additional coverage of Internext 2018, click here.
