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Is Jeff a rocket scientist??? That's yet to be seen.



I have to agree with the bulk of xvod's first post, as I have been singing the same song for quite some time too.

As for Jeff, I would actually guess he is less affected than bigger companies. My reasoning is thus: 'Big name' companies have the sort of product that everyone wants to see, and more often than not this is due to the talent involved (who are often under exclusive contract or are brand new or new at that level, for which said company has paid a premium to the performer/agent).

The products of these companies are also fairly ubiquitous...every online retailer has them, and they are 'must-stock' items for brick-and-mortar retailers too.

Now let us contrast this with JM's business model: JM does not have some hot contract starlet that everyone loves (like Teagan), and with all due respect to Ashley Blue, she never had that sort of mass market appeal before, during or after her JM contract stint.

JM's products are very niche-oriented, and are not the kind of thing couples are going to buy/rent and watch (unless they are one seriously fucked up couple). They are not 'safe' or 'vanilla', and as a consequence, there are many outlets (both real-world and online) that won't stock them.

So it's curtains for Jeff, I hear you ask?

No...and here's why. In the times to come, I envision companies like JM that have only a small amount of popularity (compared to Wicked's, Vivid's, Digital Playground's and Jules Jordan's) will actually be less affected. JM doesn't spend 'Pirates' or 'Space Nuts' type money on the movies it puts out, and I would imagine that given the reluctance of certain stockists to actually carry their product, they also do fairly brisk business with direct mail order sales, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out that copies sold at retail price are a lot more profitable than those sold at wholesale price.

When Sunny Leone's first boy/girl scene hits the streets, I would guess you will be able to download it for free within 48 hrs. (maybe less) of it hitting the shelves. Why? Simple...because it is something that everyone wants to see (or at least, the vast majority of people).

My point is that courting mass popularity makes you a bigger target for piracy, and I believe that in the near future we will see companies that try to be all things to all people will suffer more than those who only attempt to appeal to a smaller, hard-core fanbase.

Is it worth getting (for example) Teagan or Stefani Morgan on the cover of Maxim (or some similar publication) when all you might be doing is actually encouraging the demand for piracy? Will the readers of said publication think 'Damn! She's hot...I'm gonna order her DVD!' or 'Damn! Let me see what I can find when I type her name and 'Rapidshare' into Google!'?

Dare I say it, but companies that studiously avoid mass-market appeal and choose instead to fly under the radar, might just be in better shape for the battle that is to come. You can't hit a target you can't see, much less one you don't even know exists...