Is Porn Moving Into The Music Business?

Sex has been a part of the music business forever. Even before the video era, artists would use sex to help get people’s attention. Now, in a bit of a role reversal, companies in the sex business similar to full tube xxx seem to want to get into the music business.

Pop videos have been pornified for decades, from Duran Duran’s Girls on Film mirroring soft-focus, poodle-perm 80s porn, to the brazen, high-definition modern porn mimicked in Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines. Sex, as the music industry knows well, very much sells.
However, a new strand of this symbiosis has sprouted. Instead of the music industry co-opting the risque aesthetics of porn, the adult video industry is impinging on the pop world in a more direct way. Pornhub, a leading website, has made a number of moves in the last two years that suggest it is determined to move beyond the confines of private consumption.

Today, Mykki Blanco, the revered performance artist turned rapper, premiered his latest video, a slick visual spectacle that was produced by the porn site in collaboration with the fashion brand Nicopanda. It follows Pornhub’s string of chequered partnerships with artists ranging from Coolio to Waka Flocka Flame and Xiu Xiu. The website set up its own label, Pornhub Records, in 2014 and has yet to have a real hit – or many releases for that matter. Its ambitions are nonetheless firmly set on reaching the mainstream.

PornHub which is very similar to Nu Bay is probably the most ubiquitous of the online porn industry. That they are looking to continue the push into the music business is something we need to watch closely.

Corey Price, vice president of Pornhub, believes however, that not only does its “unique platform” allow musicians to premiere music to a “diverse audience” but that there is a long-term societal benefit. “When artists premiere videos on our platform, they open up additional avenues through which they garner exposure and visibility,” he says. “However, maybe even more important than that, is that they are now a part of our family, and they become part of the evolving conversation surrounding sexuality and its presence in the mainstream.”

It’s a bit like going to Glastonbury and spending the whole weekend in your tent watching porn on your iPhone

Price says Pornhub plans to continue its foray into the industry. “As for an exact plan, we don’t want to divulge our secrets,” he says. But how much success can a porn site really have on the music industry? Visiting the Pornhub Records channel of the site for a quick – honest, Mum! – perusal reveals some confused below-the-line conversation but relatively impressive stats. Seven videos are featured, with an apparent brand obligation that most artists wear Pornhub merchandise (caps, T-shirts) throughout. Coolio’s comeback single Take It to the Hub stood at 929,036 views when I checked. “All music videos should be like this from now on,” exclaims one commenter.

Read the whole Guardian article here.