Happy Birthday EroticBPM

I did this interview with the wonderful Scott Owens from EroticBPM a while back for the esteemed Thomas S. Roche back when he was editing Eros Zine. Eros Zine was unfortunately not able to post it permanently before they lamentably stopped updating. As yesterday was EroticBPM’s nine year anniversary, I felt like now would be a good time to post it here.

Scott Owens is the founder of and mastermind behind EroticBPM. BPM stands for Beats Per Minute and is an electronica term for how fast the musical percussion is thumping to get your booty shaking. The site initially grew out of the rave culture which Scott was active in. Hence the moniker “Erotic Beats Per Minute.”

Partiers who have had a blast at raves will enjoy the site, but it also appeals to a more general taste in unique young women — and occasionally men. Those who like partying teens will find EroticBPM has a lot of hot stuff to fit that taste as well. And there is a special forum for photos of models and members showing off their elbows. MistyB, one of the star models on EroticBPM, posts, “Elbow fetish is the only fetish.” She might be joking. Then again, the site features a plethora of fine examples of elbow photography.

Scott Owens is creative and always pushing the envelope in terms of how erotic content can be presented online. Although blogging is less of a focus now, EroticBPM was one of the very first multigirl erotic membership sites to feature model journals and structured profiles and the very first in his niche. The site features a thriving community where members and models and Scott and company interact in a friendly and positive way. Scott and his trusty coder Anti are always thinking of new features. Members can post party pictures and such in the members area and you can just feel the fun looking at them.

One of the most striking things about Scott is that, even in the face of trials and tribulations, he manages to remain warm and friendly. He is a genuinely nice guy, enjoyed by those around him.

Fun fact to know and share: The famous, down-to-earth, and very beautiful Bella Star got her start modeling for EroticBPM and still stops by from time-to-time to say hello to members and everyone else. Beauties featured in our exclusive free EroticBPM preview photo gallery include Bella Starr, Seattle, Sky, Genesis LaVey, Charissa, MistyB, Krystal, Zia, Bailey, Tanya, Gwen, Cadence, MerriCat, Jamie, Haley, Faye, Wish, Nails, Bonnie, Hel Inferna, Bubbles aka Bella Vendetta, the always enjoyable Athena Hollow, and birthday celebration girl Money.

Amelia G: How would you describe the theme or themes of EroticBPM?

Scott Owens: EroticBPM started off primarily as an adult site focused on the rave subculture and community. But it has since evolved to include other subcultures as well.

Amelia G: What motivated you to start an erotic membership site? What motivated you to pick the themes you did?

Scott Owens: Well back in 1999 I thought that doing an adult site would be a fun summer project to teach myself photography and web design all at once. Only most of the websites out there at the time did not appeal to me. I decided to start a site with a community focus and use raver models since that was the subculture I was involved in and familiar with at the time.

Amelia G: Was a membership site your first web site?

Scott Owens: Yep, I had never tried to make a website before this.

Amelia G: EroticBPM was originally called RaverPorn. What prompted the name change?

Scott Owens: Several reasons. Many people felt the name was misleading, although we have a variety of content many people described the photos as erotica more than porn.

Also, the rave scene was in decline and so I wanted to keep an electronic music focus while still leaving it open for other subcultures.

Amelia G: What do you look for in models?

Scott Owens: What I look for the most is the right attitude and interesting personality.

As far as looks go, I don’t have anything specific that I look for, but models who have a unique look definitely get noticed more.

Amelia G: How would someone go about getting to appear on your site?

Scott Owens: There is a link on the site for the model application. Just attach a couple photos and tell us a bit about yourself and we will get back to you if we are interested.

Amelia G: You had a lot of buzz early on. What magazines, newspapers, TV, and other press outlets have covered your projects and how did you hook up with them?

Scott Owens: Spin magazine, Wired, BBC, Sex television, CMJ New Music, Mixmag, BPM, to name some. All of them got in touch with me after hearing about the website and checking it out, they thought it was fresh and interesting enough to talk about.

Amelia G: Is it easier or harder to get press coverage now?

Scott Owens: I would say it is harder. My site and others have been covered pretty extensively, so it is harder to attract attention just based on site novelty.

Amelia G: I understand you have done fairly extensive club promotion. What sorts of events have you created? Did you do event promo before the web sites or did that come later? Do the two things go together for you?

Scott Owens: I had done some event promotion previously, and once I started the site it made sense to promote at clubs and raves since that is what I was familiar with. I’ve done several site sponsored events with fun themes, great music, and always involve some of our pretty models. One event in particular involved a lot of chocolate and photos can be seen on the site.

Amelia G: You’ve lived a number of places while publishing to the web. Where do you think are the best places to do what you do? Do you like to move?

Scott Owens: I started in Wisconsin and then moved to Hawaii where I have been the last five years. And now I am getting ready to relocate to Portland. Hawaii has been a difficult place to do what I do because so much has to be done remotely through other people I work with on the mainland.

I think that Portland will be much better for business, they have a good music scene, and a lot of alternative culture allowing me to have much more of a hands-on approach with things, including being able to start doing events again.

Amelia G: Do you consider EroticBPM to be alt-porn?

Scott Owens: Yes, for lack of a better term.

Amelia G: Do you consider EroticBPM to be feminist?

Scott Owens: I prefer to say it is feminist-friendly.

Many women who consider themselves feminist approve of and participate in my website, but people have different ideas on how to define “feminist”. So I would rather let people decide if they think it is feminist rather than try to convince people it is.

Amelia G: Do you think it is easier or harder to do what you do now than it was when you started?

Scott Owens: It is definitely more challenging, there is a lot more competition now. I think it is much harder for people starting out now than it was when I did.

Amelia G: What are your favorite party accessories? Glowsticks, kegs, a certain kind of music?

Scott Owens: My party mood changes constantly, sometimes I feel like a keg party in someone’s house with a local band or DJ, and sometimes I feel like dressing up and drinking martinis at a big club.

Amelia G: Who are some of your favorite DJs?

Scott Owens: One of my current favorites is DJ P, check him out at Studio 54 in Vegas I also like Z-trip, Richie Hawtin, Yoda, Woody McBride, Sasha, John Digweed, Tiesto, Chris Liberator. I could go on, but I will stop

Amelia G: What do you think your members enjoy most about EroticBPM?

Scott Owens: Definitely the community. Everyone is very friendly and interesting to interact with.

Amelia G: Anything I didn’t ask you about which you are dying to tell the world?

Scott Owens: Not that I can think of.

Amelia G: To recap: interactive community of rave and other music fans, unique girls, tattoos, feminist-friendly, altporn. Join the party at Scott Owens’ place at EroticBPM.

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Posted by Amelia G on July 2, 2008. Filed under Blue Blood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry