It is amazing to see that many of the LIB readers are experts on this subject. I don’t claim to be an expert but I am living in a business reality that some of you are not experiencing directly. As for the comments about the music industry surviving just fine I say BS. Ask anybody that actually works in the music industry how that business is doing and you will get a very cloudy report. iTunes is great but not at all the savior that some are making it out to be.
The music industry is different from the adult industry in that there are multiple forms of major income including live gate, merchandising, publishing, packaging, advertising and television. We have very little if any at all of those sources.
Yes, I understand we are living in a rapidly changing time and I am excited about the future. But in the same breath, I am also not tied to the adult movie industry in a way that if my business goes south I will be in serious trouble. I will adapt and continue on in some form of the entertainment business and thrive but my comment was that I really enjoy the industry and would like to continue for five more years at least.
I would be remiss is I didn’t comment directly on the General’s comments. Enforcing existing laws are really the only way to enforce order in society. You claim that we in the adult movie industry are ignoring laws about health and safety yet I challenge you to come up with a list of laws that we are breaking? What some feel is right or recommendable and what is actually law are very different things so get your facts straight please. We follow all laws so I think you have your facts screwed up just a bit.
Lastly, yes we will all adapt in some way and most if not all new technology will eventually benefit most of society but, and this is a big but- and I know some of you don’t want to hear this… theft of property is just that. If companies want to give their content away for free that is their business. However, if you don’t want your product stolen, your rights should be upheld by the existing law of the land. Laws that are already on the books.
I heard about a guy that is designing a new universal key that will fit any car’s ignition. After he steals your car that is safely sitting locked in your driveway or inside your garage how will you feel? Yes, there is a law against auto theft but the police are too busy with other crimes so that they cannot take your theft report. Now please don’t cop out and give me,” that isn’t a good comparison” because it actually is. I won’t steal your car if you promise not to steal my car. Content trading, exchanging or anything that you wish to call it is still theft or at the very least the companies that provide the ability to file share are fencing stolen property.
You wouldn’t believe the amount of free sites that we are pulling down Not Married with Children XXX from. We paid for the movie yet some people think since it is not a physical product that it is OK to steal it, share it, rip it or deliver it in any manner they wish. Yes new technology is great and I am all for it but the old school thought of thou shalt not steal still means something to me. Now I need a beer.
Jeff: I sympathize, but y’know, it really *is* an awful comparison.
Physical property is finite… digital content is not. You steal my car, and I no longer have a car… you steal my content, and I still have my content. All I’ve lost in the latter case is the potential sale of a license to a single instance of the content. If you want a better comparison, try unfair competition, where one entity denies another equal access to the marketplace. It isn’t as visceral and romantic a description as words like “theft” or “piracy”, but it’s more accurate.
And bear in mind that copyright is ultimately an artificial distortion of the market itself, invented by governments (as opposed to rising naturally from human interaction) as a means of preserving the arts. It’s a basically good idea, but not an inherently moral one, since it doesn’t even serve a purpose outside an organized market economy. (Theft, OTOH, is an issue no matter how your society is organized. Or not organized, for that matter.)
With that said, anyone stuck in a dying business sector during a time of technological change has my sympathy. It probably sucked to be a blacksmith, forced to watch all those horseless carriages rendering his career obsolete, and it doesn’t suck any less now to be in a distribution business when the world no longer needs distributors.
Agree with all that, Roger.
The world will always need porn, you just have to figure out which ways are left to make money from it. I think the business still has a ways to fall before you can figure it out. You mention having to pull your Married With Children XXX title off these other sites, but hasn’t that and the rest of the parodies been big hits nevertheless? I think the fact is that today you just aren’t entitled to so much money, just as music recording artists aren’t automatically entitled to millions from a successful CD. Lose the sense of entitlement and be glad for what you have.
Why doesn’t a porn valley DVD company build a tube site to compete with RedTube, Spankwire, etc? Because you’re all fucking lazy!
Jeff I like you have spent or in my case spent many years in adult 13 to be exact. Most people don’t know me I was an editor and also a producer at some points.
The industry screwed themselves off of the business model. With the digital camera “3ccd” and now HD camera’s it is so simple for anyone to produce porn and call themselves a producer. Basically if you have 10k in your pocket your now a producer. The basis of the product is absolutely carp. The women that are not in adult look broken down and used up. Some still look decent. My point is that every deal a distribution house makes for said product is one step away from exclusive. Exclusive is also the only way to make money. Some many of the foreign sales are complete rip off’s too.
In the web world the fools thought up the concept of the affiliate program. Jeez that is giving away your product. No one in this business uses the model of keeping the product locked down. It’s honestly not that hard to do.
We as an industry also blew it when we are selling DVD’s for $2 or less and up to $18 a piece for a DVD. But we allow the store fronts to sell those same DVD’s for 50-80 dollars on the top end. In reality we the producers still got the short end of that stick.
At some point this industry needs to take responsibility for the issues at hand. We basically gave it away for free. So if this industry wants to continue to survive its a matter of very unique content that is not brutal on the girls. Shooting our of LA where talent costs are much less. Never shooting a LA girl again. Plus some decent acting and scripts. Go old school it’s a ton of work but it will be rewarding. Plus only sell on line where you have less hands taking from your pocket.
Very simple really.