Democratisation of Media

[miz_wright]

There are major differences in the industries, yes - but the similarities I cite are accurate. The mainstream entertainment complexes are fighting the same battles against piracy the adult industry is.

The primary difference (other than the content itself) is how that content is consumed: I know very few people who watch the same skin flick over and over and over again as they will listen to a CD repeatedly or watch a summer blockbuster. In general, the porn consumer wants to get his nut to something different each time - we often say the fantasy is the selling point, and a major part of the fantasy is the variety available in content that isn't available in our shoppers' lives. As such, a PPM opportunity makes sense - s/he's not having to pay for the scenes that are filler, and can filter viewing options to best meet the needs of the moment.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm going to listen to Zeppelin 2 a helluva lot more than I'm going to watch Behind The Green Door (and I come back to the other thread about story line, here as well). So why would I pay for a whole fuck flick that I may - at most - watch once? If I want to do that, I certainly can - I can go to my neighbourhood smut shop and pick up a copy of the DVD or I can download the whole film via AEBN, if that's what tickles my pickle. But for years, I couldn't RENT a stroke film unless I wanted to leave my credit card and a ridiculous deposit with that creepy guy - and I had no choice but to buy it.

Mainstream shops had the same purchase prices, but could subsidise them through rentals - and I don't care if my boss pulls my financial statements and sees Blockbuster. I care a LOT, though, if I am Joe HighschoolTeacher, and I have a $150 deposit on hold ad Al's Stroke Shack. When VHS tapes came down in price, it was - in the past - about 8 months after the rental period had begun.

DVDs hit the market with an incredibly different pricing scheme, and as an industry, we weren't quite prepared for that.