Blogging my thoughts on UKAP

Idly emptying my head

I’ve got an edit rendering and a bunch of stuff uploading, using up my bandwidth, so I thought I’d blog a little and put some thoughts down.

I was lucky to have attended a meeting of the UK Adult Producers association a couple of weeks back in London. I haven’t been down for a couple of years due to myriad reasons, but I’ve got itchy feet at the moment as there’s just so much business being left un-done, so I hopped on the train and went down.

I rocked up a little early, after overestimating the trudge across London to the venue, meeting up on the barge with the then chairman of UKAP, Terry Stephens. Naturally it was good to have a good chinwag as we’d not really caught up since the excellent Vendo Paysite meetup last year.

He’d come to the end of his tenure as Chairman of the organisation and I felt there was a general feeling of changing times. Maybe it’s a reflection of society as a whole, or probably more a reflection of the fact that the adult business as we once knew it, has changed- I’ll come to that more a little later.

I joined this industry maybe 8 years ago, when it could be argued that the halcyon days had already passed. I joined at the time after the tubes had knocked the stuffing out of business, devoured every byte of lusty-eyed traffic and made it very-nearly impossible to make a comfortable living out of adult. Nevertheless, a few years later and I’m still here, and always looking for partnerships and ways to grow my business.

I knew of UK Adult Producers (UKAP) and I understood the meaning of the organisation, I didn’t think it was for me. As a webmaster and businessman, an organisation about producers and production matters didn’t mean too much to me, or at least that was my perception. A few chats with Terry and he convinced me the organisation was much more open to the UK adult business as a whole, so I went along and joined up.

Time went on, and after being a member for a while, I didn’t feel I got an awful lot out of the organisation so declined the option to renew my membership. But then since then I’ve been mulling over the fact that UK adult industry doesn’t really have a body so maybe UKAP could be THE place for people to do business??? Possibly.

Anyway, with Terry stepping down as Chairman, and a membership which to my eyes appeared down on previous years, UKAP is a different organisation to what it was. Moreover, I feel it desperately needs to change and adapt to the new landscape.

Times are a changin’

There’s three parts to this I’d like to share an opinion on.

1. As UKAP currently stands, does it offer me anything as a webmaster and businessman, trying to move my business forward?

The answer is probably not.

2. The days of producers and studios hiring models to produce content as the sole business model are gone. They are just 1 of many business models the adult landscape is made up of today. With platforms such as Adultwork, Clips4Sale, Manyvids, IwantClips, OnlyFans, ModelCentro and SinX, many more models are now in control of their own content. They shoot it, edit it, produce it and sell it directly to their fans. Does UKAP represent them, or offer them anything currently?

Again, probably not, or at least, not enough.

What UKAP is GOOD at, is performer health matters. The membership is made up of people with backgrounds in the field and this very important issue is given great importance and rightly so. Still, as I pointed out at the meeting, does UKAP offer anything to a cam model from Halifax? Not so much.

With the landscape changing in adult, it’s my opinion that UKAP should look to grow its membership. With the decline in the number of adult producers and studios, the organisation needs to look outside of that narrow band of opportunity and be attractive to the likes of tech companies, cam models and webmasters.

3. With Terry stepping down, should the new chairman keep doing the same, or is this now an opportunity for a radical change in direction?

Again, as I’ve touched on, I feel there *IS* a need for a UK adult body. I also feel it should be business-focused in a way that it hasn’t been previously. It should be an organisation which the industry can use as a resource of information and experience, a place where performers can access info about sexual health matters and one which actively promotes the UK adult business as a whole.

So, a new Chairman needs electing

There came a point in the meeting where the organisation chose a new chairman. Two candidates had put themselves forward;

• Gary Beaumont aka ‘The Dirty Doctor’, producer and partner of mature performer Trisha.
• Sahara Knite, model and performer. Sexual health activist.

Everyone had their own reasons for voting and I’ll share mine for the record.

I’ve known Gary for a good few years now. We’ve done a little business together and sat together as members of a previous organisation set up to help UK adult businesses navigate compliance and regulation following the setup of ATVOD. Gary is a good lad, talks a lot of common sense and is ever positive about the business.

Sahara I’ve only really met once at the aforementioned Vendo Paysite meeting last year. As a performer I was obviously familiar with her work but hadn’t met her until then. Personally I thought she came across well and is very astute. She can articulate her points well and shows a similar degree of positivity in her attitude to the business.

After some chin scratching, I opted to give my chairperson vote to Saraha for the following reasons;

1. I think in a post ‘me-too’ era, the notion of a woman at the helm of an UK adult trade organisation is very commendable. I feel women in the industry would give her a much more sympathetic ear and as a result I felt she would be able to bring together members of the wider UK adult community on that basis alone.
2. There’s no getting away from the fact that (like myself), Gary is more mature and old school. There is an (ableit unfair) opinion that UKAP is just a bunch of old geezers whining on about ‘the good old days’. I’m probably trivializing the point, but the point is, a younger person at the help with some fresh ideas can only help change the perception of what UKAP is and stands for.

So what now?

Well this is actually largely up to the organisation as a whole. If you ask me (and if you’re reading this far, you’re must be), I’d say this;

1. UKAP is needed, as body to represent the UK adult business. It’s needed probably now more than ever
2. UKAP needs to expand its membership. This is a crucial point and the direction of the organisation needs to change to make appeal to the wider community
3. UKAP needs to change to be pro-business. With the exception of Jason Domino (who, incidentally, impressed me a lot last week) nobody is a charity and we are all in this game for business reasons. A body for the UK adult Industry has to be a vehicle for driving and promoting UK adult business. This in itself will help make the organisation more appealing to new members alone.

So, to conclude, I want to thank everyone who came along last week and made me feel so welcome. I want to thank Terry for all the work he’s done over many years and look forward to working with him and everyone else involved on UKAP projects and initiatives in the future.

I want to publically wish the lovely Sahara every success in her chairperson-ship and offer my hand in support of whatever she wants help with, in order to help affect the change of direction UKAP needs.

I think that’s about all I’ve got to say for now. It’s time for the UK adult business to stop being so naval-gazing, insular and isolated. Time for people to start working together and push us all on.

Robin

…. And in the spirit of promoting each other’s businesses

Please feel free to enjoy

TelevisionX – Home of the best UK adult TV
Lacey Starr – Award Winning MILF/GILF model
Red Heaven Media – Erotic Photography and Media
Sahara Knite Exposed – Sahara’s excellent website
realcouples.com – Home of Terry Stephen’s Real Couples videos
Future Parties – The wildest, most open swingers events
dirtydoctorsvideos – Home of ‘The Dirty Doctor’
webstream.com – The best live cam solutions

(and anyone else that attended who wants some google link-juice, just let me know and I’ll add you link here!)