It now appears that rumors of the porn star’s death were greatly exaggerated. I’ll explain in a moment, but first a quick look at a few important issues, just for the sake of a little historical context..It now appears that rumors of the porn star’s death were greatly exaggerated. I’ll explain in a moment, but first a quick look at a few important issues, just for the sake of a little historical context.

We all know what happened to the porn business when the Internet hit the mainstream scene; amateur and “reality” porn rose to prominence, while the traditional adult video industry seemed to flirt with irrelevance. Horrible acting, lousy music, brightly lit sets, aging adult starlets with sagging augmented breasts, horribly faked screeching female “orgasms,” and laughable attempts at plots – who wants to sit through all that when one can check out the latest Internet reality site, or download “ex girlfriend” revenge pictures off the Net? It’s like the adult video industry had been molded to the specific tastes of irrelevant old men – the kind of men who buy sports cars when they turn fifty and think everyone is really impressed with that escort they hired to tag along on trips to Vegas. The Internet was fresh and new, and the video industry was yesterday’s garbage. The video industry was like an aging former star athlete buckling under the pressure of competing with the younger, more enthusiastic players. You get the idea.

The battle of Internet porn versus video porn was no contest – in fact, it was a rout. No more sitting through bad porno movies that inevitably zoom up on a dude’s ugly, straining face just when the viewer starts to shoot his load – nothing like getting a close-up of Ron Jeremy’s sweaty mug burned into your consciousness just at the moment of release! The Internet meant skipping all the pretense and cutting to the chase. Get to the sex, damn it, and spare us the rest!

The Internet also brought a degree of realism to the scene. Models that never would have found their way into the pages of Hustler were suddenly available to a world wide audience as fast as one could type “persiankitty.com” into a Web browser. Is that a good thing? It can be! There are a lot more sexy women out there than any skin mag could ever hope to expose, and the specific preferences of a magazine’s editor doesn’t necessarily reflect the varied preferences of its audience. No waiting until next month’s issue. No uncomfortable trips down to the adult “book” store. No accidentally leaving Romancing the Bone on top of the TV only to realize your mistake when your visiting mother asks, “What’s this?” I’m only touching on a few of the numerous advantages that are offered through the use of the Internet to shop for porn.

At first the online adult industry did indeed go to the adult video industry when it went looking for hardcore content to fill up the pages of Web sites. Companies like Z-Master Productions made their money selling mostly screen captures from old porno films. Most of those “5000 streaming video clips” sites were also using stale products from yesterday’s adult video industry. Yet as the adult Internet matured, its participants started to learn how to make their own content. And damn it, that’s where the fun is!

Amateur Web girls, who interact regularly with their customers, nabbed huge followings of men looking for virtual girlfriends (albeit girlfriends they had to share with a lot of other men!) Reality sites added humor back into the equation, and put the focus back on adventurous sexual conquest as opposed to the porn stars themselves. With less of a reliance on the traditional video industry for content, and with more and more porn consumers logging on to the Net, it appeared for a while that the adult video industry might be headed for a niche role, at best, in the adult entertainment industry.

Some members of the adult video and print industries reacted poorly. Many were convinced that the hardcore, unbridled nature of the Internet was the source of its power. Penthouse, for example, tried being more explicit as a means of winning back customers. Bad move, since hardcore merely marginalized the magazine when compared to more mainstream rivals like Playboy, and customers with Internet access could get much better hardcore for free if they knew where to look. Some video companies like Extreme Associates tried (and are still trying) pushing the envelope in terms of the graphic nature of content. This was somewhat successful from a financial point of view, but also led to the company’s indictment on charges of obscenity.

Yet as the Internet machine marched on, hampered only by the issue of online piracy, some of the players in the video industry started to touch on some concepts that worked well for them in today’s modern, competitive market. Shane’s World, for example, invaded college campuses across America, drumming up both controversy and ratings with their infamous college frat sex parties – sales went through the roof. Girls Gone Wild, although present on the Internet, was largely a video phenomenon, selling extremely well thanks to the power of an effective cable TV advertising campaign. These companies used the Internet’s “reality” approach that focuses on sexual adventure and fun rather than the celebrity of actresses.

So is the “porn star” dead? Maybe not.

Another new technology hit the scene a few years ago, and while this technology might seem like “old news” to today’s tech-savvy Internet user, it is really just now ready for primetime – it has taken a while for this technology to reach its full potential. I’m talking about DVDs, which, believe it or not, have really just come into their own over the past two years. Just a few years ago, DVDs had their own “special section” at local video stores, treated like a niche product, like laserdiscs. Today, DVD rentals dominate the home video industry. Most video stores concentrate their video rental units heavily on DVD, while some stores have done away with VHS rentals entirely. Retails stores like Wal-Mart concentrate their packaged media sales largely on DVD movies. Again, none of this was the case a few years back.

With more and more households owning DVD players, a market has emerged for “B” entertainment. I’m talking about those movies that would never make it to the big screen; this week you’ll find examples such as Dark Water with Lorenzo Lamas, and Hustle and Heat with Vivica A. Fox. These movies are no match for Hollywood’s “A” list, but they still manage to do reasonable well financially, considering the comparatively low cost of producing these films.

What if the filmmakers for these productions were to get the bright idea to add some hardcore porn sex scenes in the middle of the action? Rather than a gratuitous breast shot, what if we got a gratuitous blowjob scene right the middle of a decent action/thriller? Think the idea is far-fetched? Take a look at this:

http://www.digitalplayground.com/mov/loaded.html

Impressed? You should be, because the adult video industry didn’t make movies like that before the Internet. Steven Spielberg might not be worried about losing his job anytime soon, but you have to admit the film puts up an impressive front for a hardcore porno. The trailer you just watched, as you know if you watched it, is for an upcoming hardcore movie titled Loaded, by Digital Playground. While the $39.00 price tag is probably a bit too ambitious, obviously you’re seeing the adult video industry escalate its game here.

Loaded definitely is using its star power to help sell the film. The movie’s star, Jesse Jane, is undeniably gorgeous – she’s a sexier version of Jamie Pressley. Both Loaded and Jane are generating positive buzz in the adult business community, but will this film be just another failed “Brock Landers” attempt by the porn industry to gain some mainstream respect? Or has the DVD market finally put the adult entertainment industry into a position to compete with some of these Hollywood B movies?

Don’t count the porn star out just yet.

Connor Young is Editor in Chief of YNOT News and TheAdultWebmaster.com

It now appears that rumors of the porn star’s death were greatly exaggerated. I’ll explain in a moment, but first a quick look at a few important issues, just for the sake of a little historical context..It now appears that rumors of the porn star’s death were greatly exaggerated. I’ll explain in a moment, but first a quick look at a few important issues, just for the sake of a little historical context.

We all know what happened to the porn business when the Internet hit the mainstream scene; amateur and “reality” porn rose to prominence, while the traditional adult video industry seemed to flirt with irrelevance. Horrible acting, lousy music, brightly lit sets, aging adult starlets with sagging augmented breasts, horribly faked screeching female “orgasms,” and laughable attempts at plots – who wants to sit through all that when one can check out the latest Internet reality site, or download “ex girlfriend” revenge pictures off the Net? It’s like the adult video industry had been molded to the specific tastes of irrelevant old men – the kind of men who buy sports cars when they turn fifty and think everyone is really impressed with that escort they hired to tag along on trips to Vegas. The Internet was fresh and new, and the video industry was yesterday’s garbage. The video industry was like an aging former star athlete buckling under the pressure of competing with the younger, more enthusiastic players. You get the idea.

The battle of Internet porn versus video porn was no contest – in fact, it was a rout. No more sitting through bad porno movies that inevitably zoom up on a dude’s ugly, straining face just when the viewer starts to shoot his load – nothing like getting a close-up of Ron Jeremy’s sweaty mug burned into your consciousness just at the moment of release! The Internet meant skipping all the pretense and cutting to the chase. Get to the sex, damn it, and spare us the rest!

The Internet also brought a degree of realism to the scene. Models that never would have found their way into the pages of Hustler were suddenly available to a world wide audience as fast as one could type “persiankitty.com” into a Web browser. Is that a good thing? It can be! There are a lot more sexy women out there than any skin mag could ever hope to expose, and the specific preferences of a magazine’s editor doesn’t necessarily reflect the varied preferences of its audience. No waiting until next month’s issue. No uncomfortable trips down to the adult “book” store. No accidentally leaving Romancing the Bone on top of the TV only to realize your mistake when your visiting mother asks, “What’s this?” I’m only touching on a few of the numerous advantages that are offered through the use of the Internet to shop for porn.

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