The XBIZ State of the Industry Conference 2009 delivered some zingers to the attendees, who enjoyed a positive atmosphere amidst economic turmoil. The conference started three days ago at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, Calif., and wraps tonight in Hollywood with the 2009 XBIZ Awards. Traffic Dude and Video Secrets sponsored the festivities.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Hustler chieftain Flynt revealed that his and Girls Gone Wild's Joe Francis' scheme to rustle up $5 billion in government bailout money was a big gag, adding that despite his enthusiastic vote for President Obama, he opposes stimulus packages, bailouts and everything in between.
“I’ve got a solution for all of these companies [that are asking for bailout money]; it’s called bankruptcy,” Flynt said.
The industry hates free porn, except for those that don't. The vast majority of panelists, including Flynt himself, agreed that the proliferation of free content online is hurting the business. Wednesday saw a lively panel attack this topic on all fronts.
"First TGPs were going to kill the industry – now it’s tube sites,” said Raja of Click Pink Media. “One of the big problems is that tube sites classify themselves as ISPs so they can’t be held responsible for user uploads. The tube sites claim they can’t police their sites because then they could be held responsible for illegal uploads.”
But not everyone was convinced that tube sites are a bad thing. Online guru Brandon Shalton said that content producers should exploit the free traffic from video-sharing sites.
“As primary producers of adult content, you can take advantage of what a tube site offers, namely that they are huge aggregators of traffic. Watermark your content and upload short clips to tease the viewer.”
CECash's Albert Lozario said if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
"The tubes are here to stay," he said. "We've had to learn to work with different channels of traffic." He went on to suggest that companies might even want to build their own internal tube sits and provide webmasters with upload-friendly clips to help promote their sites.
At a seminar that explored the legal challenges facing today's adult industry professional, the panelists agreed that the new 2257 regulations were an improvement, but they added that any industry member who dares flout those regulations would be committing professional suicide.
Adult industry attorney Lou Sirkin rejected the idea that the best offense is a good defense by saying, “It all comes down to what you are willing to go to bat to defend.”
As always, industry members peered over the hill at Hollywood just to see if anyone was looking back. Performer and talent manager Lisa Ann conducted an energetic seminar about the future of the porn star that cast light on a new breed of online stars — and elicited some pleasantly blunt reactions from industry legend Nina Hartley.
"We'll never be able to work with minors or hold public office," she said in response to the growing consensus that the public was starting to keep their gorges down with greater regularity while looking at porn stars. In addition, Hartley noted that Sasha Grey's career in mainstream is destined to be short-lived, despite her starring role in Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh's next movie. Grey agreed.
Adam & Eve founder Phil Harvey agreed with another growing consensus in the industry that the days of the Blu-ray format are numbered.
"We've got five, six, seven or eight years of both DVD and Blu-ray sales," he said. "A lot of folks think Blu-ray will be dominant, but that's not something I have a sense on. That gives us time to respond and react, and we will."
But more than anything else, the conference looked to the future — the future of online adult, the future of the porn star and the future of content delivery.
“I’m most excited about convergence,” VideoSecret’s Greg Clayman said. “Having an all-in-one TV that can stream content through an Internet connection is the future.”
As for what the industry should delivery through that connection, Digital Playground's Ali Joone maintained that top-notch porn will always have an audience, even when there's free stuff to be had.
“Water’s free, but people pay for it in a bottle, right?” he said. “The lesson is that quality content always wins out.”