In the old days we used to shoot elaborate pie/chocolate videos like this one with Kendra James and Danelle Trixie, would you like to see more like this even if the video was $30+? We have run the numbers and we just can't make em for less.
Yes, 100%! Quality is what is in short supply, and I hope many others would agree it is better to pay $30 for a great wam video, than $15 for a meh one.
That being said, a premium product would need gorgeous models, amazing quality and quantity of mess, additional sexy aspects, and a special 'it' factor. Dirty Muse would be one of the few producers out there I would trust to absolutely deliver.
I purchase at different price points at a bunch of different stores on this site (and others). I would be interested in you bringing those style videos again.
I like the term "premium products" and those kinds of videos definitely fit the bill.
Ditto to what Arch said. Quality is most important to a good video. Also more quality videos tend to run on the longer side too, which I prefer, and have a rewatchability factor as well. The more rewatchable it is over time, the more you recoup that $30+ spent, and the more value you get.
I reccently tried an experiment of pricing a video higher than normal on the basis that the model was selling her own videos for £150 each. I didn't go that high but made it a lot more than the $9.99 I normally charge.The result was very few sales at all. At the end of the day all I'm looking to do is break even so I can afford to shoot more videos but there seems to be a price point where a lot of folks won't go over and a strategy of selling more videos at a lower cost works better for me anyway.
I recently had my best ever monthlong period in terms of revenue after deciding to raise my prices. I don't know if I had more individual customers, but very rarely is "We'll make it up in volume" a viable long-term plan.
I've been telling the production side of the WAM market this for years: We cannot sustain with the same pricing conventions we used during the early days of high speed internet. Models have raised their prices, supplies have gotten more expensive, the cost of business is simply more than $1/minute anymore. If every other part of the supply chain is charging more and you're not following suit, then you're the sucker.
I've dramatically reduced the amount of videos I purchase because now I have an archive of videos from years of purchases - if the new 'average' video is similar to the ones I already have and doesn't do something new, why buy them? I'm basically down to whenever there's a model who gets it or someone does something novel.
I want to predict that as the backlog of videos that's available for sale gets larger and larger, there will be less profit in 'average' videos and increased interest for premium videos. I think we're already seeing the other side of this - we're getting more ultra cheap videos of models shot in their bathtubs.
But then premium products need to be premium, but only in the ways that matter to the customers. I would spend more for a video that is spending the money on premium models like Kendra James who get it. I wouldn't spend more for quality outfits - the cheap stuff gets the same effect.
I spend about $250 on my videos, but they are single model videos. "Bound for Pleasure" cost about $350. Thats the most I've spent on a video so far. I have been called a "notorious cheapskate" in the past. I prefer "frugal".
Ohhh man I wish everyone thought like scroggle, I agree with him. It should be like the old days when it was $65 a scene, I bet there would be a lot more people making content too......
Dirty Muse said: Ohhh man I wish everyone thought like scroggle, I agree with him. It should be like the old days when it was $65 a scene, I bet there would be a lot more people making content too......
Phil
Well I don't know about that. I can't remember for much Rob was charging for a tape, but they were filled with several scenes. Check out this old Splosh order guide. I wish we could charge more but the access to technology makes everything cheaper and more disposable.
I'm proud of the whopping two masturbation videos I've made, but there's literally thousands upon thousands of them already in existence. It's all so disposable makes me wonder why I even bother, but that's also the reason I do it. Can I show people something they've never seen before? Hopefully. I'm certainly going to try.
OMG! I can't believe you still have that. Those prices are much more realistic, in the old days one could actually make a little profit. Only one out of three of my video's breaks even today. And yes it sucks and have thought many times about quitting.
I don't think I can risk spending $2K+ on a single video these days. I know some of you will buy a 'quality' product at $35 most I think will not.
I have this one from the original release. Great quality, but I've probably only watched it a few times. Split into 4 parts due to the length. Lions99 says they like longer videos, but for me, this length of video is just too long. Anal smush on the other hand, or sweet dreams, I've watched them over and over, as they're just the right length for me: start to finish in about 15 to 20 minutes.
I might not be the typical buyer, but if these epic multiple part videos also got a release in a condensed format, it might increase your sales. It's more work obviously, doing another edit, but you've got the material to work with already. Worth trying? I don't know... it could have the opposite effect and people just go for the condensed version instead of buying all the parts for the full length. But you won't know unless you try.
A similar concept would be adding these videos over time into the best of compilations and bundles. I know you've got 1 best of pie up and I bought it. Did it do well enough to try another?
Yes, you should definitely do that, and maybe acquire a copy of Topaz and clean it up a little. Remastering and re-releasing my older videos has helped turned weeks that would have been a total bust into a nice little chunk change.
fullypied said: Personally, with the cost of living right now, I can't see myself paying $30+ for a single video.
Yeah, I think that's an important point. It might be completely justifiable for a producer to charge $35 for a video (based on all their costs and predicted sales), but that doesn't mean I can afford to buy it.
The most expensive video I've ever bought was a custom for about £400 (pre-COVID). I was very happy with that, and it was absolutely worth the money, but my finances are a bit more squeezed nowadays.
Gamefan said: I've dramatically reduced the amount of videos I purchase
That's also true for me. I've only bought 2 videos in the past year, and I think my general enthusiasm is waning. Maybe that's just due to overexposure/de-sensitisation, and it's time for me to take a break from WAM.
The problem with premium videos is you need to be sure there is enough of a market to cover costs, or be willing to take the financial hit in order to do something you really want to do. I note in this thread someone asking for formalwear - but I know your usual style is full nude. Would you start clothed and then go to nude later on, like in the VHS days? Of course then you're going to run into all the fussy detail issues - what clothes, and do you make sure they are completely covered before anything comes off? Plus a million different outfit preferences.
My take has always been to shoot what I want to see. If it sells, yay, if it doesn't, I still get something for myself out of it and the girls have fun doing it. I'm currently planning 8 scenes to be shot over a weekend with two girls, lots of outfit options and ideas to pick from but the one question I'm not considering for any of them is "will this sell". Rather I'm focusing on what will work and look good on each model clean, and still look great as she gets engulfed by the mess, plus what will be most fun for them each to wear. I also think this gives our work a degree of honesty - we aren't doing it to make money, but to push forward our idea of what makes good wam scenes. Hopefully at least some of the scenes will sell well enough that the whole set of shoots breaks even over time.
In this market, I think the approach is probably "if you want to do it, and can fund it, do it, and just hope to sell enough copies to recoup the costs."
In case anyone is wondering about "good messy videos", just a reminder that Phil made these almost 15 years ago!! Can you imagine what is possible with modern equipment, lighting, and the crazy mind of DirtyMuse himself?! I think we all need to get excited about this possibility.
Thanks Man, appreciate the good vibe Archer. This were a little cheaper 15 years ago, but no matter what I put out the quality will be there or you will never see it. My promise
What I am now curious about is what if I re-edit to a 30 mins video and enhance it? The original footage was res'ed down to the web, so I still have the 2K RAW footage! Just put it on my Editor with very slight enhancement and the footage looks amazing, output res to the UMD will not pass the RAW res for sure. There is hours of footage tho, it would take a lot of work to remaster.
What I am now curious about is what if I re-edit to a 30 mins video and enhance it? The original footage was res'ed down to the web, so I still have the 2K RAW footage! .... There is hours of footage tho, it would take a lot of work to remaster.
I'm not too fussed about resolution, as long as it is good enough quality to watch. But other people might prefer the highest res. The only way to find out is to try and if I was in your position, I'd be trying multiple cuts of the footage to make multiple versions, to see what sells well and what doesn't.
As the footage is already bought and paid for, it's just your spare time at risk. The worst that can happen? You waste a day, a weekend, however long these tasks take, for not enough financial reward. But you'd learn something. 1 of the formats would do better than the others and you can use that knowledge in future.