Cam Girls Take Over

There’s no question about it, sex dominates. The pornography industry is still a five-billion- dollar-per-year business. Recently, webcamming has made gigantic strides in taking a piece of the pie.

According to Newsweek, the webcamming industry will see revenues of two-billion dollars per year. While porn satisfies certain needs, the allure of webcamming—both as a model performer and as a viewer—is easy to see. From the viewer’s standpoint, you are getting a personalized sex show, and for a prescribed dollar amount, you can request any sort of performance that tickles your naughty parts. If the performer feels comfortable with the request, she will happily oblige. If not, you’re out of luck—it’s her choice, as she is in complete control.

Control is one of the allures of webcamming that makes it so tempting for models. As a model, you do what you want, when you want—you control your own hours and environment. And, of course, the money. Pay is dependent on many factors— whether or not you work from home or a cam studio, how many hours you perform, plus your members, regulars and fans. Members purchase coins or tokens for whatever cam site they are on, to use them for performer shows. LiveJasmin, Chaterbate and MyFreeCams are a few of the largest cam sites, in which performers are paid in a percentage of the tokens and a percentage of tips.

One perk of performing is the opportunity to build a fanbase. Fans can be a factor in what drives a performer’s income. Generous fans often fulfill performers’ online wishlists via expensive presents, cash donations, etc. One misguided fan went so far as to gift a model over $25,000 to pay her college tuition (unfortunately, said fan used a company credit card and ended up with an indictment for wire fraud, but you get the idea). Still, others have mostly positive experiences with their fanbase—even using messaging apps to create and maintain a paid, subscription fanbase. "People with larger fanbases can charge more," a performer named Bridget Grey told CNN in an interview. Grey uses apps like Snapchat, KIK, Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype to keep in contact with fans and charge them for the service. "You have to stay on top of it, to create a bigger base," Bridget said.

But, side cash and gifts are just a small part of the camming business. The industry inspired the creation of businesses that exist not just for the sex aspect, but for social interaction as well. MyGirlFund.com is a site that offers text and video chat and members pay for whatever they like. "Guys send girls money, whether it’s for content or simply to be a nice, generous guy," Brian, founder and CEO, explained to Business Insider. "Some guys want to feel important to these girls. We’ve heard of them helping pay for things from tuition, to speeding tickets."

A majority of the cam business is conducted overseas—at large studios in places like Romania and Colombia—where performers work out of personal studio space with high tech cameras. Performers split their earnings with the studios and pay taxes on whatever they earn. And, while pay varies per performer, some models have been known to make more than $10,000 monthly and as low as $60 per hour. Still, not bad for sitting at home chatting in the nude (well, techically, not just sitting). Requests can be as simple as chatting, and as extreme as requests to bark like a dog for a customer, as was the case for webcam performer Nikki Night (she turned down the request).

Toronto-based Night started performing after her divorce, often working 12- hour shifts. Eventually, camming became so successful, she parlayed it into a career of cam coaching—helping other performers learn about the best lighting for cam backgrounds and creating the best live sex shows, while building member fanbases. The former makeup artist hosts two live weekly cam show classes. According to Night, the average cam girl who works 20 hours a week makes about $2,500 a month. But, the best asset to have as a web cam model is a great attitude. "If you go in with the attitude of, ‘Give me money or I’m not doing anything,’ you’re not going to make money," Night told Forbes.

For those who want more than just a weekly coaching session on camming, there is the yearly CamCon convention held in Miami. The convention is centered around webcam models and performers, but it also brings together the online adult and tech industry. Activities include casting calls, informational seminars and the quintessential model meet and greet, known as Fan Day. This year, the convention is introducing two more elements—Inked Con, featuring inked model culture, along with celebrity tattoo artists, and Cannabis Con, the expo for everything business surrounding the cannabis industry—which will be going on simultaneously alongside Cam- Con, from May 29th through June 1st.

"Every type of model who makes content for a living and is an overall enthusiast of a certain lifestyle can come together to meet other like-minded models and evolve," said founder Clinton Cox of the event. "We are producing the first show of its kind that promotes and creates professional opportunities for these three fast-growing industries."

Cannabis, tattoos and personal online sex shows? Where do I sign up?!