A couple has told how they turned to selling content and live streaming to fans on SoSpoilt.com to make up for a lack of income during lockdown. They now say it is “the easiest money they’ve ever made.”
James, 29, and Ethan, 25, from London, have been dating for a year and had recently moved in together when the UK coronavirus lockdown occurred. James was a self-employed dancer, who had performed in shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, whilst boyfriend Ethan was a gym manager. With theatre shows and filming cancelled, James’ work fizzled out completely whilst Ethan was furloughed from his fitness job.
James said: “With little coming money in, we did start to panic. We live together in London, so our rent and bills are expensive.
“I started to think of ways we could earn extra cash quickly. In the past, a few friends had asked if I created adult content. So I thought, if they think I can do it, maybe it’s something worth exploring.
“Ethan and I are in a happy, monogamous relationship so I knew I wasn’t going to do it without him. We started off just joking about what we’d do at first. But the more the lockdown started to affect us financially, the more serious our conversations became.
“We got some advice from a few other adult performers. And before long, we were creating our own content and uploading it to SoSpoilt.com.
“For us, creating content hasn’t felt awkward. It feels like we’re just filming our real life together. You could say it’s like reality TV, especially when we’re live streaming to fans.”
Within a few days of joining the site, James and Ethan were already earning enough to cover their monthly wages, with a little extra to play with.
James continued: “It’s the easiest money I’ve ever earned, I just get to be with my boyfriend!” James, however, explained: “Anyone who says you can just upload and become a millionaire is lying. It’s an extremely competitive industry, you need to work hard at promoting your content.
“However, SoSpoilt.com is a really simple platform to use, which has made things much easier.”
James and Ethan have been uploading a variety of videos and photos once a week for three months, and are set to continue.
James said: “We were pleasantly surprised at how popular our content has been. We went into this with zero expectations, so anything extra has been a bonus.
“We’re not rolling in it, by any stretch of the imagination. But it’s certainly taken away any money concerns for us, especially as our industries won’t be returning anytime soon. Even if they did, we would continue making content for SoSpoilt, as we enjoy it so much.”
James and Ethan use the online platform SoSpoilt, which allows small businesses, influencers, and content creators to monetise their content and digital services.
Creators can invite fans to subscribe and pay to access their photos, videos and live streams. They can also earn from messages and pay-per-minute live chat with any fan, not just subscribers. Creators have full control over what and when they post, and how much they charge. In the first month of lockdown, the platform received thousands of new sign ups.
In recent news, similar platforms have been criticised for not collecting VAT correctly. Many are now facing huge backdated VAT bills. However, SoSpoilt has been designed to charge applicable VAT for creators since it launched early this year which creators like James and Ethan are relieved about: “It means there’s no nasty surprises!” James said.
