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Like Gresham's law, "Bad money drives out good money". The currency (original DVD) is being debased.




True, but the key question is always who is debasing/devaluing it. The Government devalues currency all the time by just magically printing more of it. If Joe Public does the same thing, to the same effect, it is called 'counterfeiting'.

Studios that offer download to burn are debasing the value of their DVDs...however, illegal filesharers are devaluing both the DVDs and the download-to-burn products. Hence we are seeing the effects at all levels of the industry.

I'm a fan of psychological magic or 'mentalism'. I purchased a couple of books directly from a very well-known mentalist in the UK. You can't get them from Amazon or a regular bookshop, you have to jump through a bunch of hoops proving insider knowledge before you can even order them, and suffice to say they are full of trade secrets, not intended for general sale or consumption and thus produced in very small print runs.

Now, supposing you owned one of these highly desirable, highly limited books, would you take the time and trouble to scan all 200-300+ pages of them into a pdf file so you could upload it to a filesharing network, all the while knowing that it will damage the value of these books? Oddly enough, some idiot did...I downloaded them, compared them, and then sold my books off on Ebay for a handsome profit, because I knew that the longer I waited, the more ubiquitous these files would become, the demand for the books would lessen, and I wouldn't be able to recoup anything near what I paid for them, much less turn a profit on them.

It just beggars belief that someone would go to all that trouble in the first place, but there you have it...someone evidently did.

This is exactly the same problem porn has...let us say that a website was set up to handle what I call a 'White Whale' of a product (Aria Giovanni's first b/g scene, Jessica Alba's home porno, whatever) so that it actually physically mailed the content out on finished DVDs to a strictly limited number of members (thus creating a limited edition and uniquely re-sellable piece of content as opposed to an infinitely copyable digital file), I've no doubt that whichever member sold their DVD on first would make a copy of it for keeps before selling it on. Now, if they've either made their money back or turned a profit (which they more than likely will have done as demand has outstripped supply), what do they now have to lose in uploading or filesharing said content? The answer, unfortunately, is nothing.

Perhaps some sort of product registration type of thing might help, like they do with computer software, but for most people I think it's just too much hassle for a porn movie. Half-price buyback, maybe? I think studios could do a lot more to build value into the DVD package and encourage people to buy rather than pirate...maybe a limited number of signed posters, or perhaps a Willy Wonka style 'Golden Ticket', perhaps? Signings are always good as well...you can't get Radiohead to sign your MP3, can you? The same applies to porn.

Basically, I think the industry needs to focus on the people who do spend money, rather than the ones who don't. Alas, I think companies with marketing practices akin to Leisure Time and their ilk are probably going some way to creating a class of porn consumer who is never going to spend money on porn again.

Does the industry have the necessary smarts and leadership to navigate its' way out of this mess? I wouldn't put my house on it, unfortunately...