Matt Writes:

I couldn’t agree with you more about your latest post. Consumers have become a lot smarter than the porners these days. The problem was all of these porners sat back and counted their money while the average consumer became fed up with the low quality porn made available. Why should a consumer spend $30 a month on a web site that is the same rehashed bullshit and thats if they even update at all. Many companies started absorbing the smaller sites in their quest to build megasites (i.e. Bang Bros, Reality Kings, etc…) Quality porn will always sell but perhaps not always at the margin it once did.

Porn is no different than movies and music. One needs to travel back to the 80s when compact discs arrived on the scene. The labels told consumers the cost would increase until they recovered their cost of investments. They never did come down. Now imagine all the consumers who kept buying cds only for the one song. At $15-20 a cd, thats a mighty expensive fucking song. Before long, consumers started to realize that they were getting screwed until the day mps3 made it on the scene. Then consumers began to become educated on how to stick it to the RIAA. They began to illegally download music and shared with friends and families. The MPAA and movies suffered the same fate. Why should porn be any different?

The truth is simply that while many webmasters and companies were happy to give free shit to surfers with hopes of them buying, they hurt themselves more by sporadic updates or hideous content. Not to mention, hour long scenes. (Who the fuck jerks off that long? If they do, they suck at it!!!) Meanwhile, those that cashed in on the net porn craze made a ton of fucking cash. One problem, they were no different than the meth porn chick who fucks to get her fix. These moron webmasters went out and paid cash for houses, cars, booze, drugs, expensive toys, etc….They fucking forgot to put money away for the rainy days. Now that the rainy days are here, many are crying about business being down. Seriously? How much fucking overhead is there honestly on a video for web distribution? I guarrantee a lot less than there for DVDs. But porners forgot the one thing that has always been their strong point. Porners were always ahead of the game. Now the consumer has become the game.

I am sure the economy, gas prices, etc…. has alot to do with down sales. Piracy and legal issues as well. But seriously, can you honestly blame consumers for going the route they have? For $20 a month, surfers can get a Usenet account, download 3-4 TB a month and never need a membership…oh yeah, all the fucking places they might have joined, they get that content on usenet. And for that same $20, they do not get hidden cross sells, upsells, or bogus charges that they have to fight back. For $20, they have instant access to the latest releases. It sucks but the consumer will always be right.

Other reasons for low margins is much talent refusing to adjust their performance fees or moron prroducers who are willing to continue to pay scale. Most of these girls are looking to pay their rent, bail the boyfriend out of jail, etc… They aren’t thinking long term business. They are thinking about now only. They are suffering the same thing as webmasters. A porn chick gets paid today, tonight shes eating shrimp, lobster, and steak, buying $500 new clothes, shoes, etc…Then the next day they are out there again doing the same thing.

Porners used to have more money than they knew what to do with. Now many are living hand to mouth and still refusing to see that you have to continually evolve with this industry. I bet you companies like Reality Kings, while may be losing some sales, aren’t hurting nowhere like many others are. Why? Look at the amount of sex they offer their consumer. They update weekly. Same for Bang Bros. I would even throw in Amatuer Allure when it comes to quality video and smoking chicks!!!

Porners aren’t the only industry suffering. Education, business, housing, etc… is suffering as well. Porn’s problem is that it arrogantly assumed that consumers will buy whatever they put out, regardless of quality and true stroke value. The days of making a major killing in porn are gone…theres no getting the download genie back in the bottle. So now the industry will have to find new ways to reel the customer back in. How does that happen? Who the fuck knows?

The only thing I can possibly see saving porn is something like Adobe TV or ITunes that actually has DRM that works. Theres that nasty word, DRM! Guess what? There is no fucking way porn will ever make it on to those platforms.

My suggestion is this. Either drop rates to entice consumers to join by making it easier to download content than it would be for them to have to go searching through newsgroups for the latest naughty america release or find a site and combine businesses and offer the consumer something more. Give the consumers compelling reasons to join. Learn how to photograph and capture video correctly. Make me want to fuck the model on the screen instead of making fun of her or remembering some crack whore on the corner who reminds me of her. Show me the true personality of the model instead of some scripted bullshit. The days of make up, fake tits, etc… have really passed. Give me something I have a chance of scoring at some point in my life. Add some contest or something. Instead of giving away trips, Iphones, laptops, dates,etc… to those affliates who pump your shit, take care of your fucking customers. Find ways to make your customers feel appreciated. It is a wonder what a free laptop would do for a loyal customer or imagine if a customer actually got to bang some chick? I would like those odds better than the lottery.

For the females, its a simple recipe. As long as you keep your rates up, you will not work in porn. Unless the dollar recovers, many sites will make due with the content they have or simply move to bying brokered content for a lot less. Oh yeah, how about actually looking like you want to fuck and enjoy getting fucked? Is that too much to ask? If I want to jerk it to someone who isn’t enthused about being fucked, Ill go to jerk it to my ex-wife. Heres another thing. Pander to the fans. Actually write, respond, fuck even call your fans. Fuck your fans. I don’t know, maybe fucking care about them. Show them that you are more than just two tits, a hole, and a heartbeat.

That brings me to a little story. 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, youre a whore. Its no wonder sales and demand are down for chicks. I am sure that is every guys dream, to jerk off to some chick who thinks he isn’t worth shit. A customer who gets to fuck a porn chick will most probably become a fan of hers for life.

This brings me to how to improve the overall image of the porn industry. Guys like Rob Black. Kahn Tusion, and Max make it really hard to overcome the nasty label associated with porn. Try building some fucking goodwill for once. Do something without expecting something to be done in return. If you are a webmaster and have major skills, help someone breaking in the business thats new. Show them how to do things the right way instead of the right way for today only. If you are talent, build some good will by doing a scene or two here or there to help others out. Seriously, its no different than fucking some dude from the club or getting screwed on payment. Maybe this producer will throw some more work your way, cash, referrals, etc…Producers, actually learn your craft and those that do know their craft, show someone else how to do it the right way. Be a mentor. Instead of always trying to make a sale, get to know your customers. Send them a survey. Ask them what they want, not what you want them to want. Cater to the consumer. Volunteer your time in your community without expecting a press release or coverage. If you have content that won’t sell, donate it to someone else who needs content. Its not like you are losing anything other than the money spent and guess what…you already lost that. Chicks, drop the diva attitudes. Youre in porn. Somedays youll be asked to take a creampie, swallow, or even do anal. Its going to happen. If you don’t like it, go get a 9 to 5 job. Distributors, start paying your fucking bills or once web distribution takes over, youll be out of fucking job with no where to go. Producers, directors, feed your fucking talent. Treat them like family. Fire up the barbecue, invite them over to swim and hang and blow off steam ala Boogie Nights. Everyone needs to build friendships. Quit fucking each other over just to get a sale or to earn an extra $100. Quit with all these fucking trade shows. Its wasted money that could be spent on something more business friendly. If this is all sounding like giving away free services for nothing, then you got it right. Because the porn industry has made it all about money, the consumer has done the same thing. If its not about money, then why are they stealing the content without paying for it? Goodwill goes a long way in all business, maybe when the porn world realizes that….they too will receive some goodwill.

Matt!