AEE: More Views From Afar
The AEE show is history. No, I don’t mean the AEE show is done, for good, but it’s over for this year. I should mention, however, that a source (who speaks regularly with people of considerable juice in this industry) tells me more than a few believe there won’t be an AEE in two years or so, leastwise, there won’t be an AEE show that resembles the AEE show we’ve all come to love and hate.
Regarding the Stu Wall incident, the overwhelming response I’m hearing is, “It was long overdue.” And it wasn’t overdue because of shit like accusations regarding pricing. BTW, here’s my take on the pricing thing: If people are going to start physically fighting over $4 and $5 pricing, there’s gonna be a rumble in Porn Valley. A big rumble! If anyone thinks dumping product into the marketplace at cut-rate prices are isolated practices of a very few companies I’ve got some dry, river-bed, property in Death Valley for sale I’d like to speak to you about.
I’m told the awards show was, as usual, highly forgetable. In this year’s ititeration, the venue was Mandalay Bay’s big, gymnasium-like, auditorium. From what I’ve been told, the masses, i.e., the masses of fans, didn’t exactly show up and pack the place full. I’m told about half the seats in the stands were empty. Congratz to Eli/Bryn, Bo, and everyone else associated with the flick, Corruption, for its wins. In fact, congratz to all the winners. Your trophies won’t put an extra dime in your pockets but you get some decent bragging rights, at least amongst your peers in the biz.
Speaking of Bo Kenney, Bo’s observations, as reported recently on AdultFYI, regarding the current state of health of the DVD and cable sides of the business represents the first-time a major distributor/producer has come out and spoken so candidly about its truly lackluster performance and glum outlook for the future. If you know Bo, you know that, for better or for worse, he’s an outspoken guy.
Here’s a bit of what Bo had to say: “What’s happened is that a lot of the producers treated as secondary income things like Internet, iPods and cell phones. So, they never really concentrated on it. Now DVD sales are in a rapid decline because there is so much out there in other mediums. When you talk about the Internet there is just so much you can get for free why would people pay for it? All the money is being sucked out.
“I’ll give you another example. We have a movie called ‘Desperate Housewives’ that played on a cable system. There were 86,000 plays in two months; it generated $1.2 million revenue for the cable company and of that Sex Z pictures got $7,000. The cable operators kept every bit of the money. It is a crime. It is the same way in hotel rooms. They have a monopoly and we don’t have a free market to sell our goods in. Eventually the major players in the adult industry are going to need to sue the cable companies because that is the only way. Mainstream operators would never put up with what we are going through. In cable you want to sell your goods there is only 5 people you could sell to and they all have the same price. It is hitting every company here. As producers we can’t control our content and as a result our revenues are starting to fall apart. It is a tough business right now.”
Couldn’t agree with you more, Bo.
Posted by jimmyD under It's all the same crap. |