Piracy Is Promotion, Says CEO of Porn Multinational
Adult entertainment and piracy go hand in hand, so to speak. While some players in the industry use legal tools to bring piracy to a halt, others are not bothered about unauthorized sharing. In a recent video interview the CEO of one of the largest porn distributors said that the more people pirate his company’s work, the better.
Private Media Group, one of the largest adult entertainment companies and the first one that’s publicly traded on NASDAQ, has seen many new opportunities appear with the emergence of the Internet. However, it also has to deal with the many streaming and torrent sites where their material is shared freely.
Unlike other adult entertainment companies that sue individual downloaders or site operators, Private Media Group CEO Berth Milton is not going to put up a fight. On the contrary, he believes that piracy is a good thing as it serves as a promotional tool.
“We will be extremely happy the more people are pirating our content and the more they look at it,” Milton said in a recent interview with NewTeeVee.
An unusual comment for someone who heads one of the largest adult entertainment multinationals, but not a complete surprise considering the history of the company. In 2002, Private Media Group was the owner of Napster for a short while, before it was taken over by Roxio which turned it into a legal pay service.
Milton believes that entertainment companies should look beyond piracy, and explore alternatives business models as the battle against piracy is one that can’t be won.
“I think it’s a lost battle,” Milton said, adding: “I look at my own kids, because that’s the best way to know where the market is going. It doesn’t matter if I tell them that it is illegal to download. As soon as they close the door to their room, they download.”
“They are not afraid of someone who’s tracking their IP-address. They just don’t care, Milton said. “It’s a new world and we have to accept it.”
According to Private’s CEO, companies like his should use the enormous amount of traffic piracy generates. Give everything away for free and sell goods to those visitors that are harder to pirate.
In the video Milton says that his company will focus more on selling the ‘private lifestyle’ which includes luxurious vacations with an adult theme, and toys and tools that may come in handy while reenacting pirated videos.
With slow progress on human cloning and the 3D-printer, Milton’s bet on selling the sex ‘experience’ rather than videos seems to be a safe one for now.
