Expert: Jim Boyd - 11/4/2009

Question
I own a photography business and recently added Nude/Boudoir/Glamour/Erotic pictures as an option to my clients. I shot a lot of models too, mostly women. I was asked by one of the models the other day if we ever sold our images to anybody in the porn industry. My question: How would I go about selling nude and erotic images of women to the adult industry, such as web-masters, magazines, etc.? And is there a market for individual photographers outside the main stream industry to even try this?

Answer
It is possible for you to sell the images to websites, magazines and other markets, however, there is a mountain of legalities and paperwork involved...

The first and most important thing you need to do is hire an Attorney...attempting to get into any form of Adult Business without solid legal advice is just crazy. This Attorney needs to be uniquely qualified to offer advice on Adult Entertainment Law. I recommend Michael Fattorosi of Fattorosi & Associates (http://www.adultbizlaw.com) or Gregory A. Piccionelli of Piccionelli & Sarno (http://www.piccionellisarno.com). These guys are simply the absolute best legal advisors in the Adult Business world. Everything listed below should be discussed in detail with your Attorney.

1: Model releases
A model release is a signed document from the person/s depicted in the images, giving consent for his/her likeness to be used for commercial purposes as described in the release. You will need to make sure this document gives you exclusive rights to all copyrights, reproduction, distribution, and publication of the images. It should also include a liability waiver that will excuse you from fault should the images be misused by 3rd parties.

2: Compliance with Federal Law
Specifically...USC Title 18 Section 2257 and CFR Title 28 Part 75. These laws require you to collect specific information on the models, maintain that information in a very specific manor, and to pass that information along to anyone who purchases the images. Failure to properly comply with these Laws WILL land you in prison for 5 years. You can find the exact legal text for both statues at the links below.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002257----000-.html
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title28/28c...

3: Copyrights
Necessary to protect you intellectual property and, theoretically, protect you from the illegal use of your images.

4: Incorporation
Setting your business up as a corporation (LLC most commonly) protects your personal assets from business debt and liability in the event of lawsuits (damn common in the Adult business World), bankruptcy, and about a dozen other possible legal nightmares.

As I said...the market for Adult Material is huge. Once you have your legal "ducks in a row" and start advertising yourself it will not be difficult to find buyers for your material...especially if you offer a high quality product.