This week In The Spotlight we have James Lincoln, the Director of Operations and Business Development for his company The Media Exchange, LLC. He and his partner, Patrick Taylor, founded the company in March 2002 and are both programmers by trade.This week In The Spotlight we have James Lincoln, the Director of Operations and Business Development for his company The Media Exchange, LLC. He and his partner, Patrick Taylor, founded the company in March 2002 and are both programmers by trade. Currently, James writes a lot of the software that powers their web sites.

LAJ: Greetings James! You came highly recommended from one of the bigwigs here, Gary G. Tell us about The Media Exchange and your services and goals.

James: The goal of our company is to offer a service that makes life easier for content producers and the Webmasters that require content. There are many content providers out there and a good number of brokers. Originally, our company was structured as a brokerage as well. But Patrick and I soon realized that we could offer a lot more to the industry. So, we’ve modeled ourselves as third party distributors. We no longer consider ourselves simple “brokers.” The software behind our Web site is structured to help even the largest content production company maintain how their content is distributed to Webmasters.

LAJ: How is your product unique from your competitors?

James: Our product is incredibly unique in a number of ways. First, our service puts a lot more control in the hands of the content producer. We have an online submission wizard that walks content providers through pricing, describing and categorizing the content they wish to sell. At the end of the wizard the user has the choice of submitting the content to us via their web browser or FTP. Within 24 hours, the submitted content is reviewed and approved for purchasing via our website. No one has a more simple way of getting content to market.

We handle hosting of the content – photo galleries, video clips, audio stories and text stories. We also handle all monetary transactions.

We offer complete real-time statistics for the content providers. Our users will always know how much money they’re making. Our producers can sign in and change the price and/or description of their content at anytime. Again, I haven’t seen this type of functionality from our so-called “competitors.” No disrespect intended but we don’t believe we have any competitors actually. Our service can be leveraged by anyone looking to sell content, including our competitors. So, in actuality everyone is a potential client for us.

Webmasters benefit greatly from our service as well. For one, they don’t have to have ten different logins to ten different sites. They can get content from dozens of production companies from one place. Also, they’ll get better pricing because we offer a more competitive environment.

LAJ: What is your background?

James: Well, I’m from what’s now called “South Los Angeles.” I was bussed from the ‘hood to the San Fernando Valley for high school. I guess my story is pretty typical for black men these days. My father wasn’t around at all. I dodged gangs most of my youth. Going to school in the Valley was a big change for me. It gave me exposure to nice cars, nice homes and really ambitious people. I got really motivated in high school and decided to study business at Cal State University Northridge.

James Lincoln

LAJ: That’s pretty damn cool.

How did you end up in the adult Internet?

James: Well, the adult industry is one place where a creative and efficient programmer is judged by what he can do, not by what degree or certifications he has. I learned to program from books and reading the code of other programmers. I love the adult Internet business because I believe it’s where the most creative work is done. Marketing, which was my major in college, is also very important here.

LAJ: Which companies have you worked with so far?

James: I’ve worked with a couple of well-known companies in the industry, one being Cybernet Ventures (Adult Check). I learned a lot of very helpful lessons there. That’s also where I met Patrick. I’m definitely grateful for that.

I also had a short stint at what was Babenet. I learned some very important lessons there as well. But, then again, a lot of peopled learned some important lessons from Babenet.

LAJ: I understand you also did some work for YNOT way back in the day!

James: Yes. YNOT was very helpful for me as well. I don’t think there is a better overall resource site for the industry. I just want to say I am very impressed with the new YNOT Web site. All bullshit aside, it has innovation and hard work written all over it. I really respect that.

LAJ: Thanks James. We have a really strong team over here that works well together, so we’re pretty fortunate.

As a programmer do you have time for anything else? I know how you guys tend to burn the candle at both ends.

James: I’m a true code geek. Right now, my website is my life. I work between 10 and 14 hours a day. Maybe after we get the industry to see our vision I can take some time off!

LAJ: What’s your take on the current state of our industry?

James: The industry is what it is. We all see that it’s getting more competitive every day and companies like VISA are making things harder for us every day. I believe that it will become harder for Webmasters to jump in and get rich. Anyone in this industry will have to work harder and smarter to earn cash now. I’d like to see people work smarter. When people start doing that, they’ll see how helpful a service like ours really is.

I think that small companies having trouble should try merging with other companies with similar goals. You see that happen a lot in mainstream business but not much in this industry. I read an article in YNOT NEWS recently describing how a ton of people come into the industry and last less than two years. Some of those people could still be around if they had merged with other companies that did similar or complementary work.

LAJ: That is a very good idea. I definitely saw a lot of the mainstream studios do just that before I got into this industry. Many of the mid-sized Hollywood studios either merged with other mid-sized studios, or they simply were bought out or went under.

If you weren’t working in the adult Internet what would you be doing for work?

James: If there were no adult Internet, I’d be probably be doing something else involving the Internet. I love the Web – it’s the greatest platform there is for grass roots marketing. But thank the heavens for porn.

LAJ: Do you have any newbie advice?

James: Do a ton of research before you start working, then innovate. Take what’s out there and make it better, and work hard as hell! I always tell myself that I’ll drop dead before I let another guy “out work” me. (Classic Overachiever Syndrome)

LAJ: Any products, shows or upcoming launches you would like to plug?

James: Certainly! XStreamer is coming soon. XStreamer is a service that allows Webmasters to license any individual movie listed on our site, then instantly link his or her members directly to that movie. Our software handles the hosting and presentation.

The business model for this service is very unique as well. Webmasters aren’t stuck with a play list that’s static or pre-designed. XStreamer Service Plans will start at $29.95 per month. This makes it very easy for anyone to offer streaming video to his or her members.

If any adult video producers out there want to license their content to Webmasters, get in touch with us soon. We’d like to have a wide range of content to offer Webmasters. You can learn more by sending your questions to info@adultmediax.com or visiting our website at www.adultmediax.com.

LAJ: Thanks a lot for your time this week James, it’s been a pleasure!

James: Thank you. You guys are great at what you do… keep it up! Oh… I do need to give a shout-out to my homie Gary. Thanks G!

Do you know a Webmaster with a great story to tell? Someone innovative, unique or perhaps even entertaining? Tell us about this person for future consideration to be “In The Spotlight” here at YNOTNews!