Another year draws to a close, and the natural tendency is to look back over the past 12 months and evaluate where things stand at the entrance of a new year..Another year draws to a close, and the natural tendency is to look back over the past 12 months and evaluate where things stand at the entrance of a new year.

2004 was a busy year for the adult industry, with legal and financial issues making waves across the industry: the ongoing Acacia lawsuit, the new 2257 compliance laws, Visa’s progressively stricter conditions, and third party processors belly-flopping. Health concerns were also an issue when an HIV outbreak among adult performers brought production to a temporary halt during the summer.

Yet, despite the typical and unexpected setbacks of the last year, the general consensus among professionals in the adult industry is that 2004 was a relatively good one when it came to adult business.

With pornography (and everything adult-related) being cast as an increasingly controversial issue by factions of the American government and other puritanical advocacy groups throughout the States, professionals in adult expressed their awareness of the changes occurring in and around the industry.

With his usual succinct style, SleazyDream (www.sleazydream.com) summed up his opinion of biz in 2004: “I made more this year than before. But the industry is consolidating – which means more money, but fewer players.”

Echoing this sentiment, Michel Plante of www.3xwebdesign.com offers this look back: “Many things have changed in our industry in the last 12 months. I think that webmasters are more educated and more aware of what is happening in our industry, compared to previous years. I also think that our industry is now more stable, less newcomers and more solid companies.”

Scott Rabinowitz, president of Traffic Dude, offered his perspective on the changes and trends in the adult industry in 2004: “This year has been an eye opening year for many, and therefore more of a good year, in terms of awareness and response, than most. I believe that comfort zones for many adult companies have come into question, where many firms have looked more seriously at major alterations or additions to their core businesses. The irony is that both real and perceived threats to the established business and billing models has re-energized many companies overall and allowed staff at all types of companies to rise to the occasion with good ideas for the firms where they hang their hat.”

Kick Ass Vic, webmaster at www.kickass.com, agreed: “I believe 2004 was a great year for the adult industry as a whole. Our DVD sales and cable partnerships increased dramatically this year – even while America has stalled financially. Pornography is continuing its trend into the mainstream, and as it does so we continue to see the industry shaping up in many ways – becoming more business-ethical, organized on a larger scale, and more forward-seeing. On the flip side, we continue to see mainstream culture and entertainment worsening in many ways as a result – becoming more trashy and sex-obsessed, while still bound to puritanical concepts and failing to deliver any real sexual goods.”

Looking forward to the next year, Vic sees these challenges confronting the adult industry. “I believe our biggest challenge in 2005 will be legal. Governments will increase their scrutiny of our industry as generally [we] grow stronger and they generally grow more puritanical. In 2005 we need to insure that we operate ethically without compromising the sex-quality of our pornography. We will be dealing with the unique paradox of having sexually-progressive morals advance alongside those of western traditional conservative values.

Charles, better known as Wired Guy of www.wired2000.com, noticed similar trends: “2004 was a good year for me; it was definitely a year of change for the industry. We saw the need for patent reform, changing policies in credit card processing, and an increased need for self-regulation within this industry.”

Looking across the pond, Cathedra of Cyber2000 offered her perspective on international adult business during the last year: “Personally speaking, most of our business is in the French market and I can say that 2004 has been a good year for us. Perhaps our market is finally over its growing pains, and consumers were more open and familiar with the way the market works. We’re looking forward to 2005 being an even better year.”

Many webmasters outside of the U.S. were focused on different aspects of the adult industry in 2004.

Uncle D of www.touchyourtoes.com saw the fluctuation of the dollar play a large factor in his adult business. “Being a Canadian business, I think the main pinch all webmasters felt was the continued weakness of the US dollar and the growing strength of the Canadian dollar. The US dollar weakened as low as 15% on the exchange compared to its peak strength near 60% exchange only a few years ago. So even though sales have continued to grow, it was offset by the weakened US dollar. So like many I am forced to increase traffic, put out new sites like SmotherMe.com, as well as new promotional models to offset the loss of 30 plus percent I would have received when the US dollar was stronger.”

From Southeast Asia, Major Tom of www.asian-amateurs-hardcore.com presented another perspective on the American 2257 legislation. “Because of the new 2257 regulations which require an “international passport” as the only acceptable ID document for foreign models, it looks like 90% of content providers have fallen by the way side, especially from Asia and Central Europe, where it’s not so common for models to have an international passport, mostly because of the cost. The new regulations are good for content providers but definitely a pain in the ass for webcam girls and amateurs who don’t want to post their address on their sites.”

On the other hand, he points out, “It’s good for content providers by eliminating from the competition the more dodgy kind of content providers. No self-respecting webmaster is going to invest in content without the legal documents.”

The year is coming to an end, and it seems like most people in the adult industry agree that the key word for 2004 was awareness. 2004 seemed to evoke the need for increased awareness to the changing rules and trends of the industry – essential to staying on top of any adult business.

2005 is sure to provide more unexpected surprises for the adult industry. It looks like we’re ready for it.

SexyScribe is a is an Assistant Editor with the YNOT writing team, and can be reached at scribe@sexyscribe.com.