What is our major malfunction?

I've only been out in Pornoland for about 3 months, but with over 9 years experience in this industry, I think I'm qualified to make this observation:

This industry is disorganized and being torn apart from within.

First of all, we have a serious problem on our hands with piracy.  The music industry had this problem and they took action.  It might have been too little, too late, but they did something about it.  Our industry seems to lack any desire to gather and cooperate as a unit.  There's been a few legal actions against DVD bootleggers (Jules Jordan and Evil Angel's victory most notable), and the occasional legal action against tube sites (Vivid suing AEBN), but the industry as a whole seems incapable or unwilling to work together to stop the torrent sites, known DVD bootleggers, or tube sites.  The music industry has the RIAA...where is our group?  We have roundtable discussions, with disappointing attendance from studios, but then what happens...nothing.

Secondly, the biggest event of our industry is met with disdain by those that stand to benefit from it.  I blogged about this in my previous blog, but this absolutely amazes me.  I read a quote by Tera Patrick calling it "Fan Appreciation Week", which is absolutely true, this event should be attended by all studios, all current performers, with fans getting great access to their favorite starlets, directors and studios.  One of the biggest problems with this event is that it is cost-prohibitive.  The studios shell out a lot of money, with the prayer that it is money well spent.  Make this event more affordable to the studios and to the fans, and reap the rewards.  Why the hell are there booths for things like "massage chairs", "teeth whitening" and credit card processing up on the main floor.  Those should have been booths for adult studios.  Upstairs for fans, downstairs for business, pretty simple.  The whole awards show needs to be reworked as well.  Studios should work to get their fans tickets.  The apathy during the ceremony is deafening.  I got the feeling a lot of people didn't know why they were there.  It's basically a 3 hour celebration of Vivid and Wicked.  I'm really glad that Stormy Daniels got to thank everyone she's basically ever worked with, but there's more to this industry than Wicked Pictures, Stormy and Brad Armstrong.  How about a little fan interactivity.  How about acknowledging the other studios who don't have 6 pages of ads in each issue of AVN?  How about some different comedians, I'm getting tired of seeing the guys that are on at 3am on Comedy Central hosting the awards show year after year.  Let's trim some categories as well.  Let's overhaul the judging process or at least make it more transparent.  I don't mean to be all negative, I feel the show gets better, it just seems like the next changes are all big ones, and there's some uneasiness in taking those measures.

Next, can we band together to out the shady people/companies and stop supporting them?  You can do just about anything in this industry without repercussion.  Money is more powerful than integrity by leaps and bounds in this industry, and that's disappointing.

Lastly, I understand that this is a subject people don't want to talk about, but the whole "mob" mentality has got to go.  Certain people/companies in this industry believe in using intimidation, veiled threats, and strong-arm tactics to get things done.  Maybe it's worked for you, but as the saying goes: "The people you step on on the way to the top, are the same ones you pass as you fall to the bottom".  Those companies will have their karma check cashed soon enough.  Don't think that all will be forgotten when the shoe is on the other foot.

I guess a lot of the problems in this industry are widespread and they infect all levels of it.  Just like when a starlet, who has never had money previously, gets loaded up with quick cash....they make dumb decisions.  Some companies in this business do the same...they make so much money they don't know what to do with it, so they spend it in all the wrong ways, then the money stops coming in and they aren't prepared for the fallout.

I know we can take this industry to great levels.  I love this industry.  I know there are others out there that want to make their piece of the pie, but don't want to do it sans integrity.  Seems to me like the "old guard" of our industry is infected with greed, selfishness, deception and ego.  The next wave of pornographers and pornography fans is ready to take the torch and make things right, but if we are going to do it...we have to do it as a group, as a unified industry.  United we stand, divided we fall....it may be a cliche, but that doesn't mean it holds no merit.