# How porn tube sites avoid copyright infringment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665 "2014-07-21T15:32:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665/21 "2014-07-22T14:45:39Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > A major business magazine once looked into porns supposed high profits and found out they “exaggerate” on most everything. I’ll bet you’re remembering [How Big Is Porn?](http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html) from Forbes magazine. First, that was written in 2001 and a lot has changed since then. Second, the numbers that were called exaggerated all came from media outlets, not the industry itself. (Adult Video News is a trade outlet but not a manufacturer.) Not that it matters in the least. As long as they are private companies and don’t exaggerate to the IRS what they tell \*you \*is irrelevant, and totally lawful. ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665/22 "2014-07-22T22:54:59Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > They’re also legally headquartered in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Luxembourg has a reputation as a tax haven and is probably a better place today for secretively housing money than Switzerland. It may not be fair but any American company putting its headquarters there might as well be flying the skull and crossbones. They split the tubesites off to their own company in HK even though they still move HQ of all the companies ever 12-18 months…its a dodge no doubt… ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665/23 "2014-07-22T22:57:10Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I have to ask, do you think there will ever be another “major” porn movie like “Behind the Green Door” or “Debbie Does Dallas”. well that is largely a matter of conjecture…some people would say Pirates fits into that category. Will there be more yes probably will they be similar in terms of classic erotic cinema…not until hollywood does it prolly ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665/24 "2014-07-22T22:58:41Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Porn sites promote via affilliates. These come in different forms and with different rules, but generally they make a certain amount of content that is for free consumption. It may be in lower resolution, in brief clips (or selected images), or are specially created, in order to make their site still worth visiting or subscribing to. > > Most porn sites do not need many full subscribers to make shitloads of money - a few thousand people is enough, and they can be sourced worldwide, so it doesn’t ultimately matter that the other 4 billion potential subscribers do not join their site or can access a tiny percentage of their stuff for free; As long as they are making their money, they don’t care about any imaginary “losses” they incur via piracy. You CLEARLY do not work in the adult industry… ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665/25 "2014-07-22T23:18:02Z")
Well, you do. How viable as subscriptions, ads, pay-per-video like clips4sale and other funding sources? If someone wants to enter the industry, how do you think they should go at it to make enough money to live on? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665/26 "2014-07-23T01:16:21Z")
> [@MikeSouth](#): > > You CLEARLY do not work in the adult industry… I wrote my post before I read yours. I did indeed work in the Adult industry for a while, but not the same kind you did. Ours was website subscription based only, and had a unique enough niche to get a successful following. From our corner of the industry our closest friends and rivals were all doing it the same way as us, and it was working out well for all of us. Piracy was new, small, and not a big issue when we dealt with it carefully. In your part of the industry, something more elaborate and corporate, and more directly following on from what had gone before pre-Internet, I’m sure it was a whole different ball of wax. Larger amounts of money, more staff, a legacy that influenced the directions you went, and maybe an expectation of a higher return. My point was, though, that the subscription sites out there can still make a living in porn even with all the free stuff available. It may be a crowded market, but if you have the right niche and market yourself well it can be done, piracy be damned. ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665/27 "2014-07-23T18:12:46Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Well, you do. How viable as subscriptions, ads, pay-per-video like clips4sale and other funding sources? If someone wants to enter the industry, how do you think they should go at it to make enough money to live on? I could write a book on that but it has changed a lot over the years at one time affiliate marketing was the big thing now days its all but dead. I do tell people just getting started, particularly the girls that clips4sale is a great option because it doesnt require an infrastructure purchase, it has great traffic and it doesnt require up front fees to take credit cards. It also demonstrates whether she has the perseverance and long term commitment to make money on a vanity site (what you might call a single girl site.) as for funding…my dear old grandad always told me partners are for one thing and one thing only…screwing. ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665/28 "2014-07-23T18:16:30Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I wrote my post before I read yours. I did indeed work in the Adult industry for a while, but not the same kind you did. Ours was website subscription based only, and had a unique enough niche to get a successful following. From our corner of the industry our closest friends and rivals were all doing it the same way as us, and it was working out well for all of us. Piracy was new, small, and not a big issue when we dealt with it carefully. > > In your part of the industry, something more elaborate and corporate, and more directly following on from what had gone before pre-Internet, I’m sure it was a whole different ball of wax. Larger amounts of money, more staff, a legacy that influenced the directions you went, and maybe an expectation of a higher return. > > My point was, though, that the subscription sites out there can still make a living in porn even with all the free stuff available. It may be a crowded market, but if you have the right niche and market yourself well it can be done, piracy be damned. Im not as big as you think but yes you are right…you can make monery but you have to carve out a niche (I have…bukkake) and you have to be a nazi about making sites take down your content. Eventually if you send enough DMCA notices they start to realize you wont give up and it isnt worth their time to keep putting you up if they immediately have to take it down, this is specially true of file lockers. I do alright but i spent a lot of time fighting piracy that would be better spent on marketing… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-porn-tube-sites-avoid-copyright-infringment/693665.md?page=1)