“Project Maenad — Elegant file-sharing for camgirls.”
What in the world is a “Maenad?” More importantly, what is “elegant file-sharing” and how can such a service meet the needs of models?
Launched in May 2014, Project Maenad is a file hosting service that helps models get their content from point A to point B securely and get paid for it (also securely). It’s kinda like the Dropbox of cam.
Ava Park, who has been using the service for a little more than six months, said Project Maenad allows her to create personal links for each of her customers, as well as set download limits. This helps keep her links from being leaked and her videos and photos from being downloaded repeatedly.
“You can see exactly how many times each person has downloaded the content in the link, so you can track if the link has been shared,” she said.
“Another thing I love is it keeps a past history of each link you made with the customer’s name next to it, as well as download attempts, so if someone claims you didn’t send them the link you have proof that you did — or proof that you didn’t and need to send it immediately,” she added, laughing.
Sabihah — webcam model, web designer and co-founder of Project Maenad — explained exactly what the system is, what it can do and why models may want to give it a try.
—
YNOT Cam: In layperson’s terms, what exactly is Project Maenad?
Sabihah: [My business partner] Michael and I founded Project Maenad to provide an essential missing tool for camgirls and fix one part of this great, but flawed, industry.
I’d been camming for a year. I was thrilled with what I was able to earn with very flexible hours, and I actually enjoyed chatting with most of my clients. I genuinely loved it. But some aspects were very frustrating. When you’re a popular model, there’s huge demand for your videos and photos, which would be a great way to make money when you’re not online. But there were no good options for sending files. The major camsites don’t support [file sharing], email has tiny size limits and Dropbox cuts people off suddenly and has bad access control. Accepting payments is even worse. There are horror stories about PayPal freezing accounts, which scammers would abuse to threaten models. It’s typical of this industry. Camgirls were being fleeced by scammers, pushed around by controlling cam site admins and ignored when technical problems or problem clients made it difficult for them to work. So, Michael and I set out to solve these problems.
What do you mean by “typical of this industry”?
The whole industry is sort of a mess. Most payment processors won’t take us — possibly because of the higher risk of fraud, possibly because investors don’t like it — and the ones who will [allow models to use Project Maenad ] can be difficult to work with. Some cam sites and marketplaces can be pushy about how their models cam, nickel-and-dime them with regard to payouts and make it difficult to permanently deal with bad clients. Most of them are hard to contact for support.
In a lot of cases — like with PayPal — it’s hard to know who to blame. Obviously, PayPal isn’t under any obligation to accept adult transactions. PayPal acts in the interests of its stockholders and has to abide by their financial partners’ terms. The result is that a lot of models struggle to get securely and discreetly paid for their work and are vulnerable to [clients who scam them]. They don’t have many public advocates to pressure these institutions on their behalf. The stigma makes it easy for companies like PayPal to turn [webcam models] down and hard for us to demand that they reconsider.
In other cases, there’s certainly an intent to exploit. Independent models routinely have to turn down clients, agencies and “reps” who intend to skip out on paying, skim off their earnings without offering anything in return or pressure them into situations they don’t want to be in. Most models, including me, start pretty young, and we don’t necessarily know how to protect ourselves from exploitation. And because many of us can’t speak openly about our work, we don’t know who to turn to when things start going wrong.
Project Maenad is the solution?
Project Maenad is sort of like a specialized Dropbox for cam models. It’s fundamentally a file-sharing site, but it gives models more control over their content. Links sent to clients can be password-protected, time-limited and protected by download limits, which helps reduce the likelihood that paid content will get leaked to free-clip sites or message boards. Models can let their clients buy their content directly through us and keep 70 percent of the sale price, or accept payment elsewhere and just use us to send the files. We try to give models the reins and let them decide how to use our site.
So, Project Maenad provides tools and gives models complete control.
Our philosophy is very model-focused. We’ve primarily relied on suggestions and concerns from models to direct our development. The models using our site have superb ideas and are wonderfully supportive of what we’re doing. We’ve been able to spend nothing on advertising — so we can offer better payout rates than most other sites — because of our models’ willingness to recommend us on social media. We’re grateful to be working with a community that really values the work we’re doing and feels invested in us.
@ProjectMaenad recently tweeted a thank-you to MyFreeCams for their support. What is MFC’s involvement with the platform?
We’ve been chatting with folks from MFC throughout our development, and they’ve been very helpful and supportive. Among other things, they helped us figure out who to work with for our payment processing and how to make DMCA requests. We handle this for models who aren’t sure how to go about [getting their content removed from free sites]. They suggested trying out an ad campaign, and they gave us free rein over the text and the location of the ads. We aren’t in any way integrated with their platform, but we’d love to work with them more in the future.
MFC aside, we haven’t worked with any of the large networks. I’m not comfortable using Project Maenad to promote other services until we know they’re reputable and non-exploitative. I personally cammed with MFC and feel very comfortable with their platform.
Big thanks to #MyFreeCams for supporting us! We've added some small ads on our site for MFC.
— Project Maenad (@projectmaenad) December 9, 2016
How does Project Maenad work within larger cam networks’ terms of service? Are there any conflicts because of additional monetization, off-site contact, etc?
We try to be accommodating whenever potential TOS conflicts come up. For example, Streamate used to object to Project Maenad links, but our models complained enough that they agreed on guidelines to make download pages compliant with their terms. Now our users can just check the “Streamate model” box to generate a compliant link. When I was camming, TOS discrepancies gave me a lot of anxiety, so it’s important to me that we don’t put models into a position where they feel like they have to break rules.
Aside from going through the obvious learning curves and growing pains that come with any industry, what can models do to help protect themselves?
One thing models can do to protect themselves is join a model community. I personally found StripperWeb’s Camming Connection helpful, but there are plenty of others. Asking other models for help when an opportunity seems fishy is extremely important.
But we also need models and other industry insiders to consider entrepreneurship. The industry desperately needs companies that prioritize models and have a concrete understanding of the job. Many models already have an entrepreneurial spirit and have learned the basics of running a business, so if they have ideas, I hope they run with them — even if they compete with Project Maenad.
And last but not least, what in the world is a “Maenad”?
Maenads are mythological followers of Dionysus, best known as the Greek god of wine. They drink, they dance, they put on great orgies and they occasionally tear someone limb from limb. To me, they’re a caricature of a somewhat frightening non-domestic femininity. It’s not a particularly flattering representation — they’re insane, they’re violent — but I liked the general idea. Nobody messes with the Maenads.
—
Visit ProjectMaenad.com and follow the operation’s development on Twitter at @ProjectMaenad.
Visit Ava Park on MFC and follow her on Twitter at @AvaPark_MFC.
—
You know what a Maenad is! There were Maenad’s on “True Blood” Season 2.
