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Zane Michaels THREAD
Hello Zane,

The more I read your responses, the more I appreciate you for being an authentic good person. Like many others here, I was heartbroken when you left AZ. Your departure meant the end of the website.

I hope you won't be offended, but I felt that Brett had been relegated as collateral damage to the deterioration of the partnership between Austin and Zane. I felt that he was a big part of AZ (even as Rhett in the other website), and that his career has come to a halt because of what happened. I was just as big a fan of him as I was to you.

Just wondering if you still maintain a good relationship with him. How is he? Is he still active in the online porn industry?
 
Guilty Pleasures said:
Hello Zane,

I hope you won't be offended, but I felt that Brett had been relegated as collateral damage to the deterioration of the partnership between Austin and Zane. I felt that he was a big part of AZ (even as Rhett in the other website), and that his career has come to a halt because of what happened. I was just as big a fan of him as I was to you.

Just wondering if you still maintain a good relationship with him. How is he? Is he still active in the online porn industry?
Click to expand...

I'm also really curious as to what has happened to Bret. He was one of the main reasons I frequented SCM and definitely a huge part of AZ. I loved how he became more comfortable over time and seemed to really enjoy bottoming. Would love to know if you still keep in contact with him :)
 
Bret is like a brother to me. I regret not taking more time to appreciate him while I lived in Vegas but AZ was my 24/7 duty. In the early few months of AZ, we butted heads a lot but that was mostly due to having way too much testosterone in a tiny apartment! He was always down for whatever, whether it was hiking or taking the boat out, I just couldn't see it because I was overly concerned with trying to get Austin to be more on board with everything. I still speak to Bret about once a week and we have some tentative plans for when I visit him in Vegas. It's really great to hear that you guys are still concerned about Bret's well-being, I will definitely pass along the message!
 
^^ It's nice to know that he's ok. I'm glad you started this thread. You write (in the posts) like you sound, very approachable and friendly. And although you're probably tired of rehashing az, your willingness to answer questions is appreciated.

I know you have a written a book on your experiences at az, some of which was almost real time while it was going on. Out of curiosity, have you ever considered writing a post mortem about az - not so much a narrative (like you book), but more of an analysis - what you did right, what you did wrong, what turned out differently than you expected. And covering the business aspects, marketing aspects, as well as the content (production, development, models, etc). I think that you learned a lot about starting a web business, as well as how to produce good porn, and it seems it would be a real plus to document all of that, for future use in starting a business as well as insight for others.

As a consumer of gay porn I'm currently not all that satisfied with what's available. I'm shopping around. It was a lot of fun watching you guys develop your web site (starting with the early web cams, and then the videos, chats, blogs etc,). You also regularly mixed it up giving subscribers a variety of videos. One of the things I'm trying to understand is what makes a gay porn site appealing, especially over a period of time (it isn't just the sex).

Like a lot of other guys, I'll be curious about what you pick as your next project (if it's one you decide to share about).
 
statsguy said:
Out of curiosity, have you ever considered writing a post mortem about az - not so much a narrative (like you book), but more of an analysis - what you did right, what you did wrong, what turned out differently than you expected. And covering the business aspects, marketing aspects, as well as the content (production, development, models, etc). I think that you learned a lot about starting a web business, as well as how to produce good porn, and it seems it would be a real plus to document all of that, for future use in starting a business as well as insight for others.

As a consumer of gay porn I'm currently not all that satisfied with what's available. I'm shopping around. It was a lot of fun watching you guys develop your web site (starting with the early web cams, and then the videos, chats, blogs etc,). You also regularly mixed it up giving subscribers a variety of videos. One of the things I'm trying to understand is what makes a gay porn site appealing, especially over a period of time (it isn't just the sex).

Like a lot of other guys, I'll be curious about what you pick as your next project (if it's one you decide to share about).
Click to expand...

I could definitely write a post-porn book- obviously I learned a few mistakes about the publishing world since my first one! The business experience I gained from running AZ taught me so much about the many aspects of a new, startup company. Some things that I was 100% sure would work, didn't and then a few things were more successful than I anticipated. I also think I have an interesting take on what the industry is now and where it's heading... It takes a lot more to start a new site today than it did just 2 years ago!

I also learned the valuable lesson of doing business with friends. Austin aside, we had others on our team that I considered to be "friends" but within hours of selling them my share, I was being threatened with lawsuits- not exactly the type of people I thought I was working with.

When I started talking to Austin and Anthony about helping them build out their upcoming website, I was excited for them and I loved the energy they brought to the table- it reminded me of how Austin and I were in the early stages of AZ. I bonded with those guys and really enjoyed having them around but as soon as "business" got in the way, things changed. Although it had almost nothing to do with A&A directly, I learned that when it comes to business, especially when sex is involved, it's better to keep the friends far away if you want the friendship to remain unaffected.

To this day, I still get emails from porn models that want me to help them build out a site for them. As much as I would love taking on a consulting position, the best advice I tell them is to wait a year and see where this industry is going. I still keep many ties within the industry and hearing some of the difficuties that other major companies have started to face makes me feel apprehensive about any new start-ups. As I see it, there are about 3 ways to make real good money with porn right now and no new company is anywhere close to doing the right things. Only time will tell if the established companies can adapt to the ever-evolving world of porn-access but I know of one site in particular that seems to be poised to be in the best position- and only time will tell if the others can keep up ;)
 
I still keep many ties within the industry and hearing some of the difficuties that other major companies have started to face makes me feel apprehensive about any new start-ups. As I see it, there are about 3 ways to make real good money with porn right now and no new company is anywhere close to doing the right things. Only time will tell if the established companies can adapt to the ever-evolving world of porn-access but I know of one site in particular that seems to be poised to be in the best position- and only time will tell if the others can keep up.

I loved your book and I subscribed to A&Z back in the early days. In the above quote you say the industry is struggling right now. In your opinion what are the three ways companies can make money. Is online video piracy a big cause of that?
 
I won't list the 3 things flat out, but it's simply just a matter of being more analytical towards the porn viewing habits of consumers. The typical membership pay-site model is starting to fade as more and more smaller sites keep popping up and saturating the industry. With tube-sites like pornhub or manhub, you can literally search for exactly what you want and watch thousands of videos for free.

To keep members opening up their wallets, you really need to have something special and unique. The sheer number of sites out there has pretty much killed-off the porn-superstar exclusives that thrived in the industry in years past. Now, a new model will jump from one small site to the next and instead of becoming some prized exclusive, they are in the same bin as the other performers making the rounds. So, many sites share the same faces and have a harder time being a standout. It's getting more difficult for sites to build value in individual models.

Piracy isn't going away anytime soon and while it's great to see certain sites like CF and RB leading the way in the fight, no real legislation has been put in place to help enforce the copyrighted materials. While the industry and ease-of-access is growing, so is the number of ways that people are illegally viewing the material. Until some solid, enforceable laws are put in place, it's an uphill battle for every porn site.

I think if a new company wanted to try some new ideas, they would try to match the ease-of-access with an easier, faster, more convenient way to purchase. Paying $30-$40 a month for a site with no guarantee of what you are getting (maybe 4 or 5 scenes that could even include solos) is no longer a great option for many consumers. I think you will find more micro-payment sites like gayDOTxxx where the buyer can purchase just the scenes they find interesting or perhaps the scenes that only include their favorite models. As mobile devices change over the next few years to keep up with the growth and speed of social networking, I think you will see more sites adapting to a quicker Buy-now option per scene where companies can hopefully gain some impulse purchases. It's going to get tougher to stand out in the sea of smaller sites but the sites that can offer a personal connection where the site actually becomes a part of the buyers life, those will be the sites that will maintain a loyal base until the industry can tackle the overwhelming amount of free porn out there.
 
Years ago, when I was new to both the internet and porn, I reviewed my bank statement after months of enjoying the new download freedom and was shocked to discover that I had spent $500 the prior month on paid memberships most of which were recurring. I quickly began cancelling and became a harvester instead. A harvester joins a site for the trial period or one month membership and downloads every video and photo set available, cancels, and waits until the site rebuilds sufficient inventory to justify another one month membership. I also have discovered that I am able to find more porn than I can download at groups, blogs, forums, etc. and rarely is it necessary to pay any site for a membership. I am able to select the scenes or porn star I want instead of buying the entire video.

One exception to my rule was AustinZane. I was one member who used to get so pissed off at Matt at SCM, that I refused to continue to pay him anything for a membership. But I did like many of his models and when Jared began posting here about his and Wade's journey to their own site, I followed the newly christened Zane to his new pre-launch site and was one of the initial members if AZ.

They did not disappoint and when I wrote and posted reviews for AZ, I used words like refreshing, new direction, rewarding, etc. They became my newest self-indulgence and I really delighted in not just the videos they produced, but the family of friends that Zane fostered and built and the communications he had with his members. But I also recognized that all was not well in broland and bailed out as a member right before Zane did also.

I re-watch some of the AZ videos with some frequency. They are still everything I thought them to be when they were first uploaded to AZ. The behind the scenes knowledge we now have only adds an element of sadness to the videos I still enjoy. It breaks my heart to know that it really wasn't real, but just superb acting on their part. Would I follow Zane to any new venture he might launch in the future? Absolutely. The videos he produced gave and still gives me real pleasure.
 
Well thank you, Native! Yea, I've never heard the term 'harvester' but there's no doubt in my mind that thousands of others do the same. The best way for sites now to keep the members recurring, is to focus on adding some daily or even weekly value that might be missed otherwise. Live shows are a great way but that isn't everybody's cup of tea- especially international customers that are sleeping during the live show times! One of my favorite things we did was the free Live show where the bed broke! Hundreds of people hung out and got to know us and even though it was free, the number of new members that signed up made up for the bandwidth expense! Another great way to keep members on board is to reward them for their support. Some sites offer discounted monthly rates but I always wanted to do something even better- more like a video game. When a member reached a certain length of time, they would be in a whole new tier of membership that would include a lot more of a personalized experience. Those plans never came to fruition but I think it would have been great to offer really special incentives, something that no other site was doing at the time...
 
Your live cams were a good hook for me. Your idea about giving longer term members extra value is a good idea. There is currently no value is being a long term subscriber (over a several year period) to any of these sites. I can take a couple of months off and still get back in easily. In some cases the site begs you to come back and offers much lower rates, so a subscriber actually has an incentive to take a break every once in a while.
 
I had so many great ideas for AZ that nobody else was doing or trying. I dealt with a lot of opposition from my "team" and after awhile, I stopped getting excited to be a part of it. If I ever did anything in the industry again, I would make sure that my team carried the same amount of enthusiasm that I did.
 
I can understand your frustration, although I have friends that run a small business. One of them is the "ideas" guy and the other is more the accounting type. They discard about 75% of the ideas and do well with the rest. The accounting partner keeps the idea guy grounded, but without all the fresh ideas their business would have stagnated long ago. Still business partners need to be equally invested in the development of the business for it to thrive.

I always enjoyed all the things that you tried production wise as well. Some of it was quite inventive, whether it was planned or not. I must admit that very early on I was tempted to ship you a couple of soft boxes for your live cams as I was tired of all the yellowy lights. There also seemed to be other stuff going on off camera during the live cams.
 
That's actually really funny that you mentioned the lighting. The one thing I was always suggesting that we purchase was new studio lighting- one of the many things that didn't come to fruition!
 
The entry price for very basic lighting has dropped a lot (along with the power consumption) over the last five years. The only problem with decent lighting is if you are trying to keep a low profile with your neighbors. I have friends that occasionally do some shoots in their house. If it's at night the place is lit up like something out of ET (or from grow lights - there's a movie about a widow that decides to save herself by growing marijuana indoors with grow lights. It's funny, but the image of the house lit up isn't too far off.) ;)
 
Zane, I just had a quick question. In 'California Flip-Flop' during the last half of the video Austin was whimpering a lot while bottoming. Was he actually in pain? 'Cause it sounded sort of like that...
 
That portion was fake- Austin didn't really bottom on his back.
 
^^ Now I'm going to go back and watch it. ;)

So have you started your "Mustang" new project yet? What year is it? 69?
 
He went back to Washington, worked a few different jobs, and now he is in Idaho settling down with a new girl. A few times I was pretty sure he was coming back down for more work, but it never came to be.

Yep, the mustang is a 1969... It may always be a project since I can't make up my mind what I want to do with it!
 
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