Last night, and internet skin flick giant Pornhub announced the launch of their own in-house record label. This new venture aims to feature adult musical content aimed at their demographic — a target audience based on the ads that the site features (yes, pharmacy those ads!).
In the first throes of their new conquest, Pornhub Records is seeking “mature” content — not “necessarily porn-focused,” but certainly for adults only: “Mature lyrics for an adult audience; no boy bands or teen-pop, for instance,” said Pornhub V.P. Corey Price. How the millions of middle-and-high-schoolers who view Pornhub daily around the world will respond to this artistic direction remains unclear, but the as-yet-unnamed artists Pornhub has chosen are emphatically big kid material.
Pornhub seems to understand perfectly well the power they wield with their product, which reaches astronomical numbers of people each day. With the launch, Pornhub Records has also opened up a contest to the internet masses seeking an “anthem” for the site whose prize package promises $5,000 dollars to produce a professional video, but, more importantly, huge viewership and exposure for emerging groups. “Minimum 500,000 views guaranteed,” says the contest site, and that number is really low-balling it (sorry).
Hopefully, the brand will take this opportunity to showcase some truly kickass talents with diversity of perspective into the larger pop cultural mix. The site already has a strong history of exhibiting music already, having been the main avenue for fans to watch the music videos from artists like the very cool Xiu Xiu (check out “Black Dick”) deemed too graphic for the rest of the internet.
There are infinite possibilities with an integrated project like this, especially with such an audience. The music we play when we get it on (or, perhaps more appropriately, when we get on with ourselves) is a cultural frontier ripe for exploring. Pornhub Records, despite the giggle-inducing nature of its concept, is a pretty smart idea — as long as what they choose to exhibit hits the spot.