Last evening, I responded to Mike South’s web log. Earlier he discussed why the adult industry is feeling the pinch with down sales across the board from distributors, major companies, programs, and webmasters. I offered my view on what is wrong with the porn industry and ideas on how to fix it. I wanted to share the same information with my readers but expand on it a little bit more. Now I do not believe it will completely fix what is ailing the adult world currently, but any little bit would surely help slow the bleeding some.

Webmasters

Problem: The first thing I mentioned was for websites that are feeling the pinch to lower their prices especially in the down economy. Webmasters everywhere are claiming that slow sales is hurting them and that some are even going out of business. Well, my friends, that's what happens when any business does not plan ahead. One needs to look no further than the GFY threads and you will quickly see threads based around foolish webmasters buying brand new cars, silly toys, etc… They fail to realize that their customers today are not as stupid as they once were. Many of their constant sales have found other avenues for their porn fix through torrent sites, newsgroups, etc… While the issue of piracy is simple enough to blame lost sales on, webmasters now have to worry about sites like PornoTube stealing what would be their next sale. Ever since I can recall following the adult industry, many webmasters could care less about the future. They cared about converting the traffic into sales for today. Like most, everyone considered porn would always be in demand. No one could foresee the recession that was headed our way. Still, these webmasters continued to spend their quick cash faster than many made it. These same webmasters would quickly screw over a customer in order to make a sale, sometimes even hidden cross sales without the customer’s knowledge. Theres no quicker suicide for business than stealing from your customers. Add to it pages that were updated sporadically, if ever.

Solution: Quit screwing over your customers. Be straight with them. At least attempt to update information instead of insulting them. How long has Tawney Stone been 19? Umm, since the site started years ago? We are all happy to make money. But seriously, if you don’t provide any updated content, do you honestly expect to retain those customers after they have seen virtually everything on the site? Those webmasters with skills, help out the newbies so that they can do things the right way. Offer your services for free….yeah…I said it, for free. Not all of the time but pro-bono work sometimes has a way of finding more work coming back your way. You never know who will have huge success and one day, you might need a favor as well.

Female Talent


Problem: Let’s get one thing straight. You have sex for money. Pure and simple. While I would agree this is an art form, it what it is. The only difference between a porn star and an escort is there is a camera involved. Yet, many of these stars tend to smoke the diva hash pipe. These so called stars are hot the day they arrive but once they have been around for awhile, a new girl comes right in to replace you. It doesn’t mean to get an attitude. I wrote on South’s page about a story that I once experienced with a porn star.

I overheard this porn chick one day at Starbucks in LA. Her and her agent were talking about how to increase her popularity and you can imagine the same bullshit. Go on KSex, web sites, radio, etc… So I mention the same things I just did above and the porner looked back at me and said and I quote: “Are you fucking stupid? Why would I ever want to fuck any of my fans? Have you ever seen my fans? They are fucking gross and fat. Why do you think they have to jerk off to me? The day I fuck my fans is the day I become a whore.” Now imagine that. I simply replied, you fuck for money, you're a whore.

Seriously, I have never seen an industry that ignores their fans the way porn stars do. Not to mention, these same stars are the ones who think they should be immune to the down times by charging the same rates to producers. I am unsure if anyone has tried to sit them down and explain that what they do isn’t that difficult to find someone else to do. Unless you shoot fireworks out of your vagina, you have sex on camera. It’s not something you went to college for. You do not need a special degree for it. You lay down, you have sex, and then take a brick in the mouth. But to listen to some girls, you would think they are curing world hunger or cancer. The only cancer they may be preventing is prostate cancer but that's still open to debate.

Solution: I know its hard but try to care about your fans. After all, if you did not have them, where would you be other than in some club trying to get noticed? Give something back to those who pay your bills and I am not talking about the director or producer. They get laid enough. You want to make a difference, try laying one of your fans. Get passed the fact that they do not look like your normal porn partners. So what? In a few years, you will not be as hot as the chick they will be supporting with their hard earned cash then. Build for your future. Ensure a fan for life. I promise you, one day your current fame or vision of fame will fade and what will you be? Unless your name is Jenna Jameson, you will pretty much be an afterthought to the new generation of porn consumers, not to mention having to compete with new Nicole Graves, Kerri Sables, Melissa Midwests, Allison Angels, etc… Remember, everything you do now will only help you in the future. Then again, you can go away like Janine and then come back and fizzle. Who really cared when she came back? I mean where else could you find tattooed girls that were hot? Oh yeah, suicide girls. No need for Janine. Imagine what a live phone call to one of your fans would do? Furthermore, unless you are an A list celeb, forget your limitations. I cannot count how many models has a list with a ton of don’ts or that they will work with only their own partner. Seriously, if you get hired to do a scene, you are getting hired. Not your preferred partner or boyfriend. Why should some director or producer change their niche or content just to get you on film? Furthermore, quit expecting kill fees. It comes with business. We know its important for you to make all the cash you can but if you are losing money on a shoot, I guarantee the company, crew, producer, etc.. are all losing money as well. Why should you be treated any different? Do a free shoot once in a while for newbies in the business. Like webmasters, you never know who will be successful. How nice would it be once your career has ran its course and you find yourself needing work. You can always call back on the guy you helped out? Better yet, perhaps helping a new content creator out will prevent them from screwing over future models when it comes time to pay them. If you do not do a great scene you were hired to do, do not feel ashamed to not accept full payment. If you are a professional, you should always perform professionally. Leave your gossip and drama off the set. Show up on time and be ready to work. Quit charging directors for the time you spend in make up. Do you think McDonalds pays their employees to get ready to do their job? On the subject of makeup, STOP! If you need make up to look good, then you're not all that hot to begin with.

Producers/Directors/Content Creators


Problem: Please learn your craft. I cannot say it enough. Learn to white balance correctly. Use a tripod. We get it. You’re gonzo. You’re hip, happening, artistic, visionaries, etc… Ok. But hold the camera still. Rubbing one out to some of today’s movies is equivalent to jerking off in a car on a bumpy road. Build your scenes. Make people want to be the guy on the screen. There is a reason sites like Naughty America is doing great business. The chicks are hot and the video is usually pretty good. Sites like Amatuer Allure are always setting the bar for having the hottest chicks with the best quality. Give your customers something extra. Cut your scenes down some. Does it take the average guy 30-45 minutes to rub one out?

Solution: Even the reality porn sites incorrectly reflect reality. Less is more. Really it is. Provide some serious content rather than “Hi, my name is….” right into action. I am not saying write an actual scene but for the reality sites, why not make it seem like we actually to get to know the real girl (not her on screen persona) before rubbing one out? Let us see some genuine laughter and fun. How many times have you met a girl and then went straight into oral? If so, does she have a sister you can hook me up with? Seriously, provide your customers with something that they want to keep. Make them want to come back. Oh yeah, quit selling your content to every webmaster that is willing to pay. All you are doing is devaluing your content and worth not to mention over exposing the model with the same thing. (Sobegirl is notorious for this.) If you have content that isn’t up to your quality, donate it to someone else who can use it who is just starting out. Goodwill goes a long way. Karma baby! Like webmasters and female talent, take someone under your wing and show them the ins and outs of this business. Success isn’t only what you acquire, its what you pass along to those lives you come in contact with. Why was Burt Reynold’s character so likable in Boogie Nights? He generally seemed to care about his crew and talent. He fed them, housed them, let them swim in his pool. It wasn’t until he was an asshole that his stubborn ways began to cost him money…starting to see a pattern here? Build friendships, not business partners. If the porn industry ceased to exist today, what would many of you have left? Friends are priceless. Pay your crew and talent well, but most of all PAY THEM! If the girl does an awesome job, throw her some extra cash. Sure it cuts into your bottom line but think about that inevitable future where your talent flakes and you need a quick fill in. Who do you think will be the first to show up?

Programs/Sponsors

Problem: Perhaps its the “in” thing to do these days but why do you feel the need to offer all these trips, iPods, iPhones, dates, cash prizes, etc… to your affiliates? I get that they make you money. That’s cool. But don’t you think your customers are more deserving? Imagine what would happen if once a month, a customer won $5000? Or five customers won $1000? You just made a sale for life. Oh yeah, they just called their friends and bragged that that they won something cool on a web site. What do you think their friend is gonna do? He’s going to join! He gets content and a chance to win something. Because right now, Joe Customer has a choice. I can join a newsgroup service and download all the porn I want for $20/mo or I can join a site and maybe get something back. What do you think a $5000 customer would do first? I bet he extends his membership for another year. Always reward loyalty. Whether he is a customer for a month or 10 years, he is considered loyal because he gave you money for something, you gave him nothing. He gave you his business, you did not give him yours.

Solution: Price your site to reflect the economy. Many programs and their affiliates are bitching that sales are down. Well duh dumb asses. Did you really expect someone with less money today compared to five years ago to continue to paying the same price? Don’t even start with the inflation argument. Everything has gotten cheaper to produce. The problem is many of you do not want to lose your margins. Better to relax your margins today rather than close your doors tomorrow. PAY your affliates. Pay those who are working their asses off so you can make money. If they make you a sale, pay them. Pay them. Pay them. Oh yeah, PAY THEM! You might not think its a big deal shaving here and shaving there, but times are tough all over. They need to eat just like you. Only they wont be eating steak but at least they still eat. Here’s another bright idea, pay some newbie who just started extra once in awhile. Do you not think an unannounced or unexpected bonus will make that affiliate work that much harder to drive sales and traffic to your site? There is a reason businesses offer bonuses. It helps employee morale. It inspires employees to work harder. Without your employees, you have no business! If a girl gives you an awesome scene and its driving customers to sign up because of it, try sending her a little extra cash down the road. Do you think maybe she’ll come back later on and work just as hard? Sometime it pays to share the wealth. Quit hiding cross checked sales from your customers. There is a reason Visa charges a start up cost and it rhymes with “largebacks”. Unauthorized sales are the number reason for chargebacks with poor/lack of quality content running a close second. Stealing from your customer is a sure death knell and speaks largely about the kind of assholes that run the company.

Overall Porn Community

Problem: You are not a family. You are nothing like it was back in the 70s and 80s. Back then, friends got together to make money. Nowadays, partners who make money become friends. Seriously, have fun. Make some friends, be a family. Take care of one another.

Solution: If you create a nice circle of friends and forget that you are all competing for the same business, then success will come for your circle. Forget making success about you. Make it about your family. Party together, barbecue together, fuck each other together. Combine your efforts for the common goal…NOT MONEY…but fun. The money will or will not come. Having fun is the only thing you can control. Quit selling each other out just to make a dollar. What you lose today is nearly impossible to get back tomorrow. Have fun and get each other laid. If you have skills or services, offer them to someone else out of the blue with no expectation of anything in return. FREE? “Screw that,” you say? This is why your industry suffers at every turn. You collectively belong to the same fraternity, better yet, sorority who continually back stabs one another. Sometimes its not even about money (read Amber Lynn), its just boredom and drama queen syndrome. Be proud of the life that you chose instead of hiding in secrecy. You chose this career. It did not choose you. Stand up for your rights and the rights of your customers (read FSC). Do something for others without expectations of press coverage, releases, or even a thank you. Have an extra video or digital camera, help someone out. You can give a man a fish…wait that sucks. You can give a man a chick and he can have sex for a day. You can teach a man how to score chicks and he can get laid for life. You know where I am going with it. Volunteer your time for things outside your business. Give people a reason to associate porners with something other being a blight. Many sleazy companies do plenty of charity work and are given a free pass because of it. Before all of you start crying about doing something for free, you are ensuring future business. the RIAA and MPAA have found out the hard way what consumers want and the consumers fought back. Just like them, the adult industry will suffer the same fate at the hands of the now-educated consumer.

I am sure I have pissed off nearly everyone. But if you have read this far and are angry, read back through it. Every point I have made makes perfect sense. After all, the way you have done it to this point isn’t exactly working any more now is it? I am sure there is a webmaster out there giving me the middle finger right now or a female talent telling me to GFY. I am sure there is a director or producer that will have a ton of reasons for doing what they do. Same for programs. Angry as you may be, this is the truth. This is all involved are suffering. Those that have prepared well will continue to do fine. Those that haven’t, perhaps now is a good time to rethink your business model or at the very least consider what I have written and give it a try. You could always tell me to piss off and I have no clue about what I am talking about. I mean after all, I am a former porn customer, what do I know?

Matt!

http://mattsbeachhouse.wordpress.com

And the award for longest first post goes too........

I happily accept this award on behalf of all the dumb asses out there who still do not get that it is time to evolve and change their business models to adapt to the changing customer and economy.

He's trying to generate traffic to his blog.

By putting them to sleep?

Too long; didn't read

Well, he did put the word "Manifesto" in the subject line. That should have been fair warning. How many of you have read manifestos of 50 words or fewer?

In spite of the length (it IS a manifesto...), there were a lot of good points.
And yeah, like a sheep, I clicked the link and visited the site...

Actually, no. I am trying to generate discussion in an industry that is finding out that they are not immune to the recession.

For those not wanting to read the entire thing, I am not a member of the adult industry, just an independent film maker who works in mainstream that is a fan of adult.

Not always true. There are plenty of models who work on hourly rates and there are companies who pay hourly rates.

3,014 words in a post, WTF???
Someone's got a lot of free time on their hands.

Of course I have a lot of free time. I am collecting research for a documentary on porn ad this is the conclusion I have come to about the online and adult industry in general.

^^^ What part of "manifesto" don't you understand? You shouldn't have entered the thread if you didn't want to read a lengthy missive.

Does anyone have any thoughts, right or wrong?

Sir, I could debate this issue back and forth with you all day, and we could come up with 1,001 brilliant new ideas to help and improve the industry...but the problem would be getting the enlightened minds that make up the industry to even consider adopting them.

Paysites should switch to a pay-per-scene model rather than the everything-we-have-got-for-$30 business model for the following reasons.

1) Maintains content value. $30 for 30 scenes equals a dollar a scene. Come back in 30 weeks time, the site now has 60 scenes, yet still charges $30, so now it becomes fifty cents a scene...and on and on until there is not a coin in the land small enough to buy just one scene. With a fixed price/single scene model, what is worth five bucks now will be worth five bucks in 30, 60, 90 weeks.

2) Minimises piracy. It's not like some bastard can just rip your entire site off for one low fee. Also, it heads off the situation where the surfer just wants one scene/girl from a site, but can't rationalise paying $30 for it and so goes and looks for a free download as they have no other option. It also means the surfer pays only for what they want.

My other big bugbears:

Professionalism: The industry needs some sort of regulatory or industry body to start pushing initiatives to make the industry more professional. A good start would be some sort of unified sales charts for DVD, VOD, etc. and awards based on sales/merit rather than advertising payola.

Does the multi-billion dollar porn industry have a lobbyist? Maybe they should think about getting one?

Also, try getting some sales and marketing professionals in from outside the industry to give some seminars and whatnot. It's mind boggling to see how many supposedly major studios can't even be bothered to run a simple opt-in mailing list via email.

In an age of piracy, why is nothing being done to foster customer loyalty, like coupon mail-in offers? You buy a certain number of a certain company's titles a year, you send in your coupons and a check to cover shipping and handling, and you get a limited edition DVD, perhaps signed by some of the talent involved? If any comics fans are reading this, let me say that perhaps the adult industry could take a leaf out of the Valiant Comics playbook (before Jim Shooter left). This is why I find Evil Angel's 'Defend Our Porn' DVD to be so disappointing...sure, it's for a good cause, and it's a veritable highlight reel of gonzo porn, but wouldn't it have been a damn sight more interesting if it was all brand new scenes? I tend to think so.

Also, it's about time the industry starting cutting the balls off of companies that support filesharing sites through advertising dollars like Brazzers and Adult Friend Finder. Fuck 'em.

Finally, testing for herpes and pooling of talent with regards to herpes status. How about being proactive rather than reactive for a change?

That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more to come...

ok you got me with number 1.........i would be willing to spend more money on internet porn if I had more control of what I got...

DanG, excellent fucking points. The problem is exactly like you said, the minds who make the decisions is too fucking stupid to do the right thing to ensure their content is not stolen while still giving their customers exactly what they want.

Your manifesto is good stuff, but as evidenced by the response 99% of the people who should read it won't. Maybe you can put it into a youtube video and add pyrotechnics.

It will actually be a segment in my documentary that I am producing on the adult industry. Good stuff, good times.

the problem is... as good as it all sounds to someone on the outside of the biz, it is all pretty unrealistic.

How is unrealistic? The only way I see it that way is if these same companies refuse to adapt and change their business models and dont give the customer what they want. If they choose that route, then they continue to lose sales.

I think now we know what's eating Burg.

this post is too long and im not going to read it-

if the post is too long for a porn whore to read,
then im not gunna read it either

Wow, people used to give me shit for *my* posts being way too fucking long.

More than enough companies give consumers what "they want." I don't think thats an issue; you can track down anything you want nowadays in a nice subscription package. Shit, I remember first surfing for porn back in '95 (at the tender age of 12) and being so shocked by the very few DP/gangbang photos out there. Now its a prerequisite for porn stars and proliferates on the web.

About the only thing that can save porn is a massive recession followed by a massive HIV outbreak taking out 75% of the companies out there and most of the old fart talent still running around.

Or companies figuring out how to maintain positive mainstream publicity to garner sales. No ones managed to do that yet (about the closest was Girls Gone Wild in my opinion if thats any indicator of the sorry shape of the porn market).

And personally I'd be much happier if everything went free. Seems to be the next logical step in human sexual evolution.

hey matt, how's it going?

It's not quite the dadaist manifesto, but a call to arms nonetheless. It would be nice to see a "standards and methods" set of guidelines for the industry but that would be asking for way too much.

Jacque Schitt wrote:

Quote:

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this post is too long and im not going to read it-
if the post is too long for a porn whore to read,
then im not gunna read it either

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Gunna? Literacy as it's finest.
So, is that to say that Cat In The Hat is the sky's limit for you, fanboi?

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Come on, Jack. Give the kid a break, he's only twelve.

Cant be Danny, everything is spelled correctly, unless it was a copy & paste, I didnt bother reading it, my attention span is short regarding this fucking nonsense.