From the offset we have to differentiate what a physical webcam studio is and what a virtual studio is.
A physical studio is a building in the manner of a call centre that has lots of rooms for cammers to work from, they can be of value if you dont have a private space to cam from, strong internet or the necessary equipment, obviously scams will exist in that area of the industry also so make sure to know exactly what you are paying for etc. They can charge by the hour, on a per day basis or based on a % of your total earnings for that session.
Why do virtual studios exist?
As bluntly as it is, they exist with the sole purpose of scamming you from a % of your earnings without you knowing. When a virtual studio signs you up to a big box site like Chaturbate the studios profit comes from you directly, not the site unlike most other industries.
They provide zero benefits at all and will wow you over with flashy websites and perfect sales talk.
99.999% of the time a virtual studio is a scam, there are extremely rare instances in which a virtual studio provides an actual service and benefit to you and is worth the very tiny commission charged (as low as 1% and no site payout fees, eg $40 per transfer on Streamate). Namely The Dailypay Service who operate on nearly all big box cam sites.
Why avoid signing up for virtual studios:
- They are very expensive, Internetmodeling.com for example take 15% of your earnings, when you combine this Streamtes own 65% fee (Streamate being the actual cam site not a studio) you are left with $20 profit out of $100 that the client spent on you. Maximise your earnings by not joining a studio to begin with.
- Next to no support, before you signup they will offer you the world, tell you they are their 24/7 for answers and advice, after you signup your just a number and they are looking for their next signup, they sign up members en mass and do not focus on individual members as the money lays with getting you through the door. And why pay for support when the actual cam site offers the best support you can get without going through a middleman, each time you email a studio support they just email the site themselves, taking twice aslong to get a reply each time.
- Deadly to leave, a cam studio will move heaven and earth so you cant leave them, Intermodeling for example have in their contract if you leave them you cannot signup directly to the actual cam site Streamate.com for 6 months and they rigorously enforce this. Some contracts have in them that if you leave you have to pay back X amount of commission to them and X amount of all future earnings as they “referred” you to the industry. Some will just make it impossible for you to sign up again and will even repeatedly report your new account for fake breaches to the cam site making your life hell.
- Claims of special promotion and advertisements, the cam site itself is the one who provides the thousands of clients, the studio provides none, they leech off the back of existing cam sites. The special promotions they tout are provided by the cam site itself already, if you are in a studio and win a prize the studio will be taking their cut aswell, so you have been charged for winning a prize. If a studio says they offer advertisements ask them to provide current examples, they wont be able to and if they do it’ll be a free account on social media, something you can do for free and at least your adverts will be solely focused on you not hundreds of other cammers.
- “Special training”, to get started on a cam site is easy, signup and click broadcast, its easy, for the rest of it you have to get a feel for it, cam studios will make you think they have some golden training that no one elses knows and without it you’ll do terrible. Its all lies, they have no training that isnt already provided by the cam site itself or can be easily learned by yourself. There are lots of free forums and resources out there if you need them but its honestly very easy, just click broadcast and smile.
- They provide no tangible benefits, a virtual cam studio will provide you with zero benefits while charging you a commission on your whole career as a cammer, thats thousands and thousands of dollars/pounds for nothing in return. There is nothing at all they can provide you that the cam site doesnt already provide you.
- Scheduling, some studios will demand that you cam X amount of hours per week, going as far as spamming your skype/email wanting to know why you arent camming, if you dont follow their rules they will fine you, aggression is in their nature as they arent regulated by anyone, they answer to no one.
How to avoid signing up with a virtual studio and spotting their signs of deceit:
- Google their name, if they claim to have millions of clients then they show up all over the internet.
- Their website doesnt show any webcammers on it, this is because they are a studio and dont provide the site shows the webcammers as you would be able to spot a difference in companies and just site up directly with the actual cam site.
- Lack of information on their website, a cam site will have an faq section and in their they will show their payout rates, a studio will not show their rates as they are very high.
- Aggression, when signing up they will be pushy and demanding, constantly on your back until you are over the line and signed up with them.
- Contacting you via a free email service like gmail or yahoo, a real cam site will contact you from the sites domain itself, eg support@streamate.com, real cam sites dont contact you to sign up either, they offer a signup page and thats all you have to do.
- Webcam job adverts in random locations, seen them on craiglist, gumtree, backpage (gone now), facebook, instagram, twitter? All those adverts are for virtual studios, avoid them completely. Scam studios like to use “influencers” to advertise their studios, do you research before signing up to anything an influencer says, they are out for themselves only and you are just another potential victim.
- Lack of community, the last thing a virtual studio wants is a community, it means the members would be freely able to talk among themselves and when one says about the high fees or asks “is this a studio” the house of cards comes crumbling down.
- “Auditions”, these do not exist on a real genuine cam site, they only exist for studios for some seedy owner to get a free show.
- Submit your image/videos, same as above, no cam site will ask for these.
- Lack of direct responses about vital information, eg how much commission do you charge, are you a studio. When asking these you will notice an angry tone in their responses.
- Just ask here if you dont know, add a comment below and while do the research for you!
How to sign up directly with big box sites:
When you visit their site they will have a signup link for models, signup there.
Some direct signup links:
A list of virtual scam studios (will be updated periodically as there is thousands):
Viperjobs.com
Internetmodeling.com (king of scam studios)
strictlymodels.com
ameliastopmodels.co.uk
eyekandimodels.co.uk
regencymodelmanagement.co.uk
camsharks.com
londonsapphires.com (major scammers, very aggressive and demanding)
I am in the US…how do I get started? I would need info on what I need to purchase to cam from home and a good net working site on what to do and how to do it. Thank you
Hi, C920 logitech is the default recommended camera. Feel free to post any links to cameras you may be interested in buying and we can give our thoughts on it to keep you on the right path. Do you happen to know what computer/laptop you have? If it helps we can connect via Skype and go throw things with you on a one to one basis. Just let us know.
Hey, I found this post really informative – thank you! I’m currently researching the best way to go about being a cam girl. I’m glad you mentioned LondonSapphires as scammer because I was looking at them as a potential agency, but after this I’ll stick to my original plan of signing up direct to AdultWork (seems to be one of the most popular in the UK). Do you have any forums and other free resources (point 5 in this article) you would recommend taking a look at? Other than your own website which I’m making my way through – really informative, thank you! x
Hi Poppy, yes 100% sign up directly with Adultwork. Free resources are the Adultwork forums themselves here http://adultworkforum.com and the Adultwork thread I like to read here https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/showthread.php?156654-The-AdultWork-Thread
With both of those there is enough information to know everything about Adultwork.
Thanks for reading.