Hello. I'm new to ADT (hi!) and as I've quickly gathered, you all have a general hatred of tube sites, which I can totally understand. It's mind boggling to me that some studios still actively partner with/advertise on the same sites that are giving full scenes (or discs) away for free but that's another topic for another day.
In addition to being a porn fan, I'm also, like a lot of you, pretty tech savvy. I work in the graphic design industry and tinker with video editing in my free time. Somewhere along the way, a light bulb went off in my head that said "why not combine porn with video editing?", so I started making compilation videos.
Basically what I do is grab short clips from tube sites. (I do not, repeat do NOT download full scenes. I'm with you all, it's morally bankrupt..and illegal), chop them up, splice them together, add transition effects and custom opening/closing slides.
I host all of my comps on one specific site (not going to mention which one) and I've garnered a bit of a following. All of my videos do really well in terms of views and feedback and I get messages inquiring as to when my next one is coming out and who the subject will be.
I feel, though, that I'm still lurking in somewhat of a grey area. I have, let's say, well north of 10 videos out and I've yet to have a takedown request filed on a single one which I see as a good sign. Personally, I feel that what I do falls under fair use. The splices I take are short (usually 1 minute, never longer than 2). I relate it to sampling a piece of music. 16 bars or less is fair use, anything more is infringing. To my understanding, I at least meet the spirit of the law. The amount of footage I use (from clips often provided by the studios themselves, mind you) is not substantial in relation to the work as a whole and I don't feel that what I do has any negative effect on the market for or value of the copyrighted work. If anything, I would hope my videos encourage viewers to sign up for a starlet's personal site (I always include their URL on my fade-out slide) or one of the big mega sites so they can see the full scenes.
So, what say you, ADT? You guys are the professionals and the aficionados and I value your opinion. After reading a lot of posts across the web about tube sites and especially after reading how you, the experts, feel about them, I'm kind of torn. I definitely feel shady now just hosting my videos on one because they are apparently bathing in a stench of sorts that casts its odor off on everything around them no matter how legitimate they try to make themselves appear.
On the other hand, I make my videos with good intention. I started making comps as a way to combine two of my favorite hobbies but also to "give back", if you will, by producing what are essentially highlight reels for my favorite starlets. I'm sure many, if not all, of you can identify with the feeling you get when you discover a new starlet. You want to see all of the best stuff they've done right now. I feel like my videos make that a bit more possible without spoiling things by giving away too much. However if it can be illustrated to me that I am actually doing more harm than good, I will definitely take that into consideration and, depending on the strength of your argument, subsequently stop making videos.
Sorry for the long-winded first post and thanks in advance for your feedback.