Now, yes. But as I understood the quote from the article, it’s always been that way. So even when they were selling “Debbie” and it became a hit, it was one time pay regardless of how popular it became. Also, don’t some sites charge fees for content? I thought maybe there’d be a stream there also. In any event, it seems like a questionable career path.
I agree with you on the old days, when there were a few X-rated hits, that they didn’t get royalties…and yes, my understanding is that they got paid one time upfront and that’s it. For the occasions when there was a big hit, my guess is the royalties could have been decent for a few years but still not life-changing, especially when the actresses probably would have just endorsed the royalty checks over to the local coke dealer.
For as long as I can remember, the top actresses were typically paid by the movie, with some upward/downward variation based on how many scenes they’d be in per movie and also depending on how big a name they were. Back in the late 80s/early90s, a upper tier female could pull $3-$5k for a few scenes that could be shot in a day or two. The girls always went on the road & performed as feature dancers at clubs, meet & greets at adult book/videosores, etc., which is where they made a lot of extra money. A few top girls (think Jenna Jameson at her peak) would get annual contracts for $250k+ to perform a certain # of movies & scenes. Now you have performers doing their own thing on Pornhub, OnlyFans, etc. I have no idea how much they make doing that.
Yes, I agree with you about the questionable career path. Very few of the female performers had a long shelf life and for the most part in years past, once you did porn you had almost no chance of crossing over to legit Hollywood roles, with a very few exceptions.
