Porn Crowdfunding Creates New Fan/Creator Relationship

Independent porn producers are forging a new relationship with fans by getting those same fans to help finance their projects, according to a new article published on Wednesday on the pop culture site The Verge, which explores how companies such as San Francisco’s Pink and White Productions have helped build their audience and create new content through crowdfunding sites such as IndieGoGo. Earlier studies on the topic have shown that the approach makes sense, in particular for feminist porn producers such as Pink and White’s Shine Louise Houston (pictured above). According to statistics published by MediaShift,  crowdfunding is one financing method that appears to favor women. On the popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter, women were found to be 13 percent more likely to reach their funding goals, according to the statistics, while on IndiGoGo, women’s projects fare even better, coming in at 61 percent more likely to reach their goals. Houston utilized IndiGoGo to raise funds for her latest project, Chemistry Eases the Pain, hitting its goal by raising $24,876 from 307 backers in a campaign that wrapped up on February 28.  According to writer Lux Alptraum in her Verge piece, crowdfunding, at the simplest level, is a more convenient and stigma-free way for consumers to pay for porn. “Some fans are squeamish about typing in their credit card number on an explicitly adult site," she wrote. “When they can pay through a mainstream venue like IndieGoGo or Patreon, the number of people who are willing to shell out increases substantially.” Crowdfunding sites also come with more “reasonable” prices, and shun the sometimes “shady” billing practices that, at least in the earlier days, were too frequent among online porn sites. But perhaps the most important feature of crowdfunding, according to Alptraum, is the sense of community it fosters between creators and fans. “Other customers noted that a crowdfunding platform felt more intimate and direct—as though they were paying their favorite performers and creators instead of some faceless corporation,” she wrote on The Verge. “And they saw their contributions as a way to fund work they care about, rather than just lining a wealthy pornographer’s pockets.” Photo by Pink and White Productions Instagram