[KRL]

Old timers being leaders? Where? Anyone I've known since '84, when I started investing in adult has come into this industry to do one thing make money, not to lead anything or anyone. This business is as competitive as it gets.

Just because someone sets up an affiliate program that turns into a monster marketing force within a couple years, doesn't mean they are some kind of captain of the industry or messiah.

You can't blame anyone for the highly fragmented state of adult today. What happened to dismantle the former iron power grip of the organized crime families that controlled most of the porn industry was the advent of technology. Its power to change things was and still is unstoppable.

The power shift started with the phone sex industry. When I got into it very early on, I absolutely expected a knock on the door with a couple of "the boys" saying, "Hi, we're gonna be your partners." But it never happened. I eventually got to know some of the old timers in the vid biz who were connected and most were not "Tony Soprano" style intimidating. Just tough Italian and Jewish guys, with subtle ties to the old style LCN crews out of New York, out to make a buck like anyone else. The implication and vibe was always there, but it was never taken to baseball bat "let's go out to the park" levels. LOL.

When the Net came into being right after that, the writing was on the wall instantly that the porn industry was going to be turned upside down and inside out for good, since any geek would have the ability to become a pornographer with instant access, with minimal capital requirements, to peddle smut to the masses and bypass all the traditional wholesale porn distribution channels that had been previously so tightly controlled by organized crime families and just a handful of non LCN players.

Most of the old timers missed the boat completely to keep any semblance of power within the new high tech distribution arena that unfolded. They weren't tech types and many still don't get it in my opinion. Guccione's demise is a classic example of someone not willing to effectively come to terms with the reality of a changing marketplace and make the changes necessary to retain their market share.

I think a lot of the old timers are still sitting back in disbelief shaking their heads saying "how the hell did all these young Turks take over everthing."



Last edited by KRL at Nov 16 2003, 01:39 AM