How The Adult Industry Has Changed In The Last 15 Years

I support sex workers of all types and I think it is valid, important work.  I think pornography is an important medium that benefits a lot of people physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Challenges Facing New Adult Stars Today

When I first started out about nine and a half years ago, it was still possible to make a complete living just shooting scenes for other companies without the necessity of producing your own content for clips stores, a website, and the various apps that allow fans to subscribe directly to performers’ profiles. The rates for scenes has decreased since I started and the requisite skill sets to thrive as a performer have expanded.

The upside to this is that today’s adult performer is far more industrious and typically has knowledge and practice in many parts of production: shooting, lighting, editing, writing, etc. They are brand managers, marketers, salespeople, and they frequently collaborate with their peers to generate content. They have more control over their image, own their own content, and have more contact with their fanbase.

Things That Never Change About The Industry

There will always be people who love you and people who hate you, simply because of the work you’ve chosen for yourself. There will be people who adore you so much that they disregard the boundaries you set up to protect yourself. There will be people who hate the concept of pornography so much that they deny your agency and vilify you; sometimes painting you as a monster who is destroying society one innocent mind at a time, other times projecting victimhood on you and insisting that you must be rescued.

There will always be new stars coming in and established stars stepping down. There are people turning 18 every day and deciding to throw their hat into the ring of adult stardom. It’s important that we support each other and help guide new performers through their first steps into the industry. Sometimes, other performers are our only line of support because we understand the unique challenges we all face.

How To Stand Out As A Performer

There is no trick to standing out and being popular or successful. Sometimes you can try your hardest and still not succeed. But I think if you find the things that are unique about yourself, the things your fans pick up on and cherish you for, and focus on those aspects, you’ll be more likely to thrive in this industry. The divide between fans and adult stars is smaller now than it has been in the past. Listen to them, be as authentic as you can or care to be, and find your niche.

I think a mistake some make is doing scenes that they don’t enjoy or actively dislike because they want to keep up with other performers. You don’t have to accept scenes that make you uncomfortable just because that’s what’s offered to you. Shoot the content you want to shoot, even if you produce it yourself. When you own your own content, you can profit off of it in perpetuity.

How The Industry Will Change With Technology

As a pioneer in the VR porn space, I definitely think that Virtual Reality is going to have a great impact on porn consumption. As VR adoption increases and the ability to create compelling, well produced content becomes more accessible, I think we will see people retreating to virtual spaces to enjoy content more and more.

The PVR Iris headset is a huge step forward in this regard: an affordable standalone headset that is incredibly high quality, easy to use, and specialized for adult content. I think it tackles the big barriers for entry  we’ve seen with VR in the past: it doesn’t require a computer with an expensive graphics card or a cell phone to operate it, it makes the process of watching VR porn incredibly easy, and it’s discreet.

I truly think that this headset and PVR’s K1Pro camera for shooting VR video will help advance the production and consumption of VR porn.

Ela Darling – An adult film performer and a pioneer in both porn and live broadcasting in Virtual Reality. As the cofounder of the first ever live webcam platform in VR, she is known as the world’s first VR camgirl and has spoken at conferences all over the world about her work, including a TEDx talk. She is currently the Chief Marketing Officer of PVR.fun, a VR technology company in the adult industry.

Follow Eva Darling on

Instagram: @eladarling

Twitter: @eladarling

Website: www.pvr.fun and www.pvrmall.com

Photos courtesy of Ela Darling

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