Note some money shots: DVDs fell by 15% last year. That's sex DVDs. Note the industry does not blame the fact it charges high prices for yuch material... I wouldn't buy what they sell, it is just nasty, and I work in adult entertainment...
Note the other thing, the new business model isn't to pay performers, but to allow people to pirate and seek self-promotion. It's a battle I am familiar with, those who want to be paid for sex, versus those who want to be paid for offering access to someone else's sex for free. Including people who thought they were going to be paid for sex...
What i know is this.... the bills I have to pay keep going up, and the amount of money I am being offered to do things both rl and sl is staying the same. That means something has got to go, and for many people, that something is paying for entertainment. Good? I don't entirely think so. Inevitable given the ease of digital file sharing? Probably.
And if the sex business is having this problem, it must be everywhere...
Adult film industry enters copyright fight
By Joshua Chaffin in New York
Published: December 12 2007 00:18 | Last updated: December 12 2007 00:18
The adult entertainment industry has joined the battle between old and new media companies over copyright issues on the internet.
Vivid Video, one of the largest adult entertainment companies, on Tuesday filed suit against the Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network, accusing the company of allowing users to post Vivid’s copyrighted materials on its PornoTube website.
...
Both cases cut to the core of tensions between old and new media companies in an internet era in which users are able to post music, film and video – often not their own – on sites across the web.
Viacom, and now Vivid, contend that sites such as YouTube and PornoTube have built large audiences and sold advertising based on their material and are guilty of copyright infringement.
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The suit comes at a time of turmoil for the adult industry. After a decade of steady double-digit growth, sales of DVDs – the industry’s biggest money-maker – fell 15 per cent in 2006 to $3.6bn, according to trade publication Adult Video News, leading to dramatic layoffs. Vivid and other companies have blamed the collapse on the widespread availability of free clips on the internet.
In addition to copyright infringement, Vivid also claims that AEBN has gained an unfair advantage because it does not follow regulations that force adult companies to verify the age of their performers.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
I think it's more that you no longer need to be very tech savvy to find whatever strikes your fancy for free online... It's always been possible to see material for almost any fetish online at no charge... If you knew where to look. Now the tools do the looking, so the average user needs no special knowledge...
ReplyDeleteWith internet access being common and broadband being available in most countries in the world to one degree or another, it is the physical media which becomes outmoded and outdated...
It does not help that they charge $30 for a DVD when I can go buy Hollywood's latest for $15 and (in most cases at least) actually has a plot...
I will say however SL can be very differnet than traditional media... Their is a level of interaction you just can't get from any other source... The closest would be cam and hence why it's popular with or without SL.