How To Source Adult Content For Your Adult Tube Site Without Violating Copyright Laws

• 22 Jan, 2025
• Adult Site Broker

Disclaimer: Adult Site Broker is not a law firm. No information from this article should be taken as legal advice. Consult an attorney with any legal questions.

When buying a tube site, you may have been swayed by the easy opportunity to grow your audience by offering a wide range of content with little to no cost to yourself, regularly having your website users upload clips and images for free to share. This has been a massive draw with porn production companies and content creators themselves willingly uploading their content to your site as a way to drive traffic to their own paid member sites where their audience can access exclusive, full-length videos and custom content. 

However, a common pitfall tube sites face is when their users and themselves cross the line between legal and illegally sourced content, leading to copyright violations. So, how can you, as a tube site owner, expand your content offering without violating copyright laws? 

In this article, Adult Site Broker will walk you through how to find and upload new content for your adult tube site without violating copyright laws. 

What is Copyright?

Copyright is a form of intellectual property that secures the rights of original creators of various content types, including videos and images. Recognizing copyright is an unregistered right; original creators automatically receive this protection upon creating a work. As a tube site, you have a legal duty to uphold these authors’ copyright. 

In the porn industry, especially concerning tube sites, the topics of copyright and intellectual property (IP) protections provoke significant debate. Many are seeking clarity on who bears responsibility when illegal, pirated, or stolen content is uploaded without the knowledge of the tube site owner.  

Risks of Violating Copyright in Adult Content

One of the key benefits of choosing a tube site business model is the ability to generate content from your users, with tube sites offering users the opportunity to not only view but also upload porn clips and images for free and share them with other users.

Although this presents the opportunity to increase traffic by appealing to a broad audience and maintaining customer engagement, a downside is that as the tube site owner, you must be careful to moderate where the content comes from in case you risk violating copyright laws. You may even opt not to allow uploads. This is the new trend since Mastercard and Visa are coming down hard on our industry over user-uploaded content. In this case, just allowing content creators, studios, and sites to promote themselves on your site can work out best for all concerned. As a tube site owner, there are several risks associated with uploading content to your site that may violate IP infringement and copyright laws, including: 

Legal Consequences

The most obvious risk to your tube site is legal issues, starting with DMCA takedown notices from production companies and content creators. If not dealt with immediately, you may find yourself facing lawsuits for copyright infringements if you do not take down the content that has been uploaded illegally; this can result in fines or criminal charges being brought against you and your tube site.  

Reputational Damages

In addition to legal troubles, if you are found to be constantly violating copyright laws, you may also lose trust within the industry, search engines, and your audience. This can lead to a loss of search engine ranking and traffic to your Tube site. 

Loss of Payment Processing

As mentioned above, Mastercard and Visa could pull your processing due to violating copyright. This already happened to Pornhub a few years ago.

Financial Losses

Finally, legal troubles and loss of trust and reputation can result in financial losses for your Tube site. With monetization penalties levied against you by the courts, you may lose partnerships and your paying audience, or payment processors may ban your accounts, as noted above.

How To Source Content Without Violating Copyright Laws 

Although you may find that the majority of your adult tube site’s content is sourced from the upload of your users, which can include pornstars, porn production companies, and regular users, you may also choose to source and upload content yourself, but how do you find content that not only drives traffic and increases revenue but also complies with copyright laws?

Partnering with Content Producers

Establish exclusive agreements with adult content creators or studios, allowing you to buy the license agreements and upload content directly onto your tube site. Or by offering them lucrative opportunities to monetize their content when they upload it to you.

Licensing Content from Adult Content Networks

Work with agencies or networks distributing licensed adult content. This allows you to buy the license agreement and the assets through them and upload them to your tube site. 

Affiliate Partnerships

Another way to source content and diversify your revenue streams is through affiliate partnerships. These partnerships involve promoting videos from established platforms through affiliate programs, showing a video, and earning a commission every time someone clicks your affiliate link to access their website. 

Model Subscriptions

Another way to earn a commission and source content for your adult tube site is by offering adult content creators a platform to upload and monetize their content. Utilizing a subscription model, you can earn a commission from every model’s payout and provide your website visitors with exclusive content. A great example of this is the Pornhub Model Program. 

Tips For Ensuring Compliance 

Because of the business model tube sites have, it is essential to recognize that it isn’t just enough to monitor your actions as the owner. Still, you must monitor your users and their uploads to ensure compliance. Some of Adult Site Brokers‘ tips for ensuring your tube site complies with copyright regulations include: 

Avoid Free Content Without Verification

Whether you or your users are uploading content, it is essential to avoid uploading content that offers a free download without the need to buy a licensing agreement. You should try to avoid uploading free content where you can. 

Check for Licensing Agreements

Whether you have just bought a tube site with content already uploaded, are starting from scratch, or are optimizing your content offering by uploading new content, it is very important to review contracts carefully to understand the rights and restrictions of all the content you own on your tube site. 

Keep Documentation

When selling, we always mention that you must keep careful records of your website and adult business. By maintaining records of licenses and agreements for legal protection from the start, you will not only be ready when it comes time to sell but also protect yourself from potential copyright issues in the future. 

Monitor Your Site Regularly

Using moderators for your website allows you to regularly check the content and ensure it complies with copyright laws. It lets your tube site detect and remove unauthorized uploads before sending a DMCA takedown notice. If you receive a DMCA takedown notice, you can respond and quickly remove the content.

Educate Your Team

Finally, educating your content and moderator teams on what content they can and can’t upload and their obligations to uphold copyright laws is crucial for recognizing and avoiding copyright violations.

Conclusion 

As a tube site, one of your business model’s greatest strengths is the ability to quickly and regularly update your content offering by relying on your users uploading content to your site to share. However, a downside is that you must regularly check that the content you and others upload to your tube site doesn’t violate copyright laws. So, not allowing uploads might be wise.

Take the time to monitor your contracts regularly, educate and create clear upload guidelines for your team and users, and moderate your content. This will allow you to react quickly should a DMCA takedown notice be sent, protecting you from future legal, reputational, and potentially financial losses.  

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