‘Look to porn’ on how to innovate, entertainers told

Economist Jeremy Stephen has suggested that the pornography industry could teach a thing or two to local entertainers on how to adapt their sector during the COVID-19 pandemic if they wanted to remain relevant and earn a living.

But he was clear that he was not supporting the naked trade itself as a path for the entertainment industry amid massive losses in ticket sales and widespread disruption to many shows and entertainment events.

Stephen said local musicians and entertainers must become innovative, taking a leaf from porn’s methods of delivery and focus more on online shows and “e-commerce” entertainment.

“I don’t know how they will innovate, probably with more online shows,” he told Barbados TODAY, adding that they needed to go beyond just putting out more music.

He said: “Entertainers need to look towards the pornography industry for how to innovate, particularly by being able to serve. I am not talking about the entertainment industry serving pornographic content, rather the porn industry would have moved from a model over the years where it would have been books and magazines, and then they were one of the first to go online.”

He explained that after going online that industry initially started charging for all their online content, and case studies showed that they developed a new model where they “serve enough content to hook a person and then you serve a premium content and make the money from that or ads and then now it is more about curation.

“So it is not about having a star anymore but making every and anybody a star.”

Stephen said: “The point is that the pornography industry has always been innovating when revenues have been a problem. But for most entertainment businesses what does that mean? You’ve got to find a way to deliver content online that people would be willing to pay for.”

He said the sooner local musicians and entertainers recognize that the entertainment business “will never be the same at least for some time to come” the better for them.

Adding that it would be “very irresponsible” for up to 1,000 people to congregate anywhere on island for the rest of this year, Stephen said he also did not believe people would be in any hurry to do mass gathering immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The economist said: “So that is what is going to impact those guys, and they have to innovate, they have to continue to find ways to let people pay for content online.”

In addition to several local, regional and international tours, the June to August Crop Over festival, is perhaps the season most depended upon by entertainers and musicians who usually perform at various shows and enter several competitions.

But with the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, officials are yet to announce a date for the festival.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb