by Steve Javors from Xbiz.com, read full story there
LAS VEGAS – Without a doubt, this year’s Adult Entertainment Expo disproved the theory that porn is recession proof. Fan attendance dropped precipitously from the previous year and there were fewer exhibitors as many companies collectively tightened their belts in order to withstand a slumping economy.
Attendance for the convention at the Sands Expo Center was markedly down with exhibitors we spoke to estimating anywhere from a 30 to 50 percent drop-off. One published report said that exhibitor participation was down 11 percent from 2008 (301 booths to 267).
The decline in fan attendance was immediately noticeable on Friday, the first day the expo was open to consumers after a typically low-key trade-only day on Thursday. The custom of barely being able to squeeze through aisles packed with people clamoring for a photo of their favorite star came only on Saturday, by far the Expo’s most well-attended day.
Though there were some noticeable absences from the show floor (Naughty America, Evasive Angles, Teravision, SexZ Pictures) and downscaled booths (Hustler) other companies like Zero Tolerance, Shane’s World, New Sensations and Vouyer Media opted for B2B suites downstairs to meet with buyers in a private setting…..
Decline of AVN convention is one of the few good things that came out of the recent porn recession. Slowly but surely people are getting the wake up call: producers realize investing in AVN doesn’t increase their sales, performers realize AVN plastic trophies doesn’t get them more jobs, and fanboys realize their annual zombie march doesn’t get them laid. Call this the moment of clarity, if you will.
AVN convention is a disgusting circus orchestrated by Paul Fishbein and Co, the ultimate adult industry parasites who give their worthless awards to whatever company that buys the most advertising pages in their irrelevant magazine. Their news is filtered misinformation, their cover stories are misrepresentation of facts, and their reviews are months old, what’s the point in reviewing a movie that was released three months ago in an industry that distributes hundreds of titles on a weekly basis?
And don’t let me start on the award ceremony. You have these whores who’s their greatest life achievement is taking two cocks up the ass on camera, and for that they supposedly deserve a fucking plastic trophy. So these idiots walk on the stage, crying tears of joy and thanking everybody from god to their pimp of a husband for being recognized as an anal whore. Look, I’m an open minded guy, but this is just bullshit, inexcuseable, pathetic, pure bullshit. I’m sorry if I’m hurting anybody’s feelings by calling a spade a spade.
Just ask Brett Rockman about AVN. Brett took out full page ads last year and no one has heard a peep from him since except that he is suing Lauren Phoenixs’ old pimp/boyfriend.
I’d rather wipe my ass with money then waste it on AVN ads.
Its comical to think that the few adult stores still in business are flipping the pages looking for the next title to stock.
First, people dont buy porn at adult stores anymore. Second, people like GVA have commission only sales guys that desperately work the phones each day trying to make sales and push titles with the highest margain such as Evil Angel. Third the whole “weekly best sellers or rentals” is best joke in the business. They are getting these names and numbers from a guy named Madoff in NYC and we know how well he is doing.
Now that I like about it. Paul Fishbein is the adult business version of Madoff. Paul is selling non-existent dreams and promises. Like Madoff, Paul has been in business for many years because certain businesses benefit from this dream even though in the end alot of people are going to be left completely broke and with ZERO assets.
I disagree with you 100%. I think having our own big scale awards night is great for sales because it translates into publicity and that always translates into more sales or more bookings for performers. So even if the overall attendance is down, just getting nominated can translate into an immediate boost in terms of marketing.
The banality, triviality and irrelevance of AVN magazine and AVN awards are now more obvious than ever. Even fanboys who are at the bottom of the adult industry food chain are starting to realize that.
I can’t name any female performer who has benefited from her AVN awards one way or another. Take Violet Blue AKA Noname Jane for example: she won several AVN awrds including the best new starlet, but eventually ended up doing death fetish scenes in east coast to feed herself and her family. Another recent example is Amber Rayne who by the way is a great girl. This year, they gave her the most underrated female performer award. Well, what the fuck is that? She’s been in this industry since 2006, has a huge fandom, and has been in every major studio’s movies from Vivid to Wicked, Evil Angel, etc. So what does this plastic trophy do for her at this point in her career? Who in this industry doesn’t know her already? And how is this going to promote her to the people, both producers and fans who already know her?
Girls in this business have a short career span, if they’re pretty and nasty and have a good attitude, they last for 2 to 3 years, if they’re ugly and arrogant and stuck up they only last for 3 to 6 months. Either way, AVN awards does not boost, help or improve anything except for creating an opportunity for some whores with low self esteem issues to stroke their egos over a weekend in Las Vegas, and I don’t think anybody in a right mind and the slightest glimpse of reality of the adult industry should participate in a swindling circus like that.
As usual the Colonel is correct. The AVN show is simply another way for Paul to make money.
Let me ask you Kelli since you seem to like the show.
Name me any awards show that costs the potential winners money to appear?
TV and Movie awards shows not only DONT charge people to attend they have “swag bags and gifts” for appearing. Some swag bags are worth more then most porn girls make in a year.
If AVN is really such a ‘big scale’ award show then where are the swag bags and why on earth would AVN charge performers to sit and watch a long boring show?
Kelli, the floor is yours. Lets hear what you have to say.
AVN awards mean jack shit. I remember Al Goldstein’s take on them many years ago, he said that might as well be an award for the best textured toilet paper on a set…or something of that ilk. Paul goes on Howard Stern every year and pulls a con or two giving away a trip to Vegas and brings in a few young girls to get some interest going. In fact Paul is one of the reasons porn is in such bad shape.
Let me point out the fact that girls like Jenna Jameson and Tera Patrick got big because they benefited from the support of companies like Vivid and Adam & Eve that turned them into advertisement tools to promote and sell a variety of products from lingerie to toys, love dolls, etc, and in addition to that, they hired strong PR teams to make press releasees out of anything they do and anywhere they go, but in reality those girls are as good and passionate performers as Paris Hilton is an actress. Therefore it wasn’t award shows that made those girls famous, it was the support of companies that hired them, the same companies that also buy most ad spaces in magazines including AVN and rent expensive booths at conventions. Awards came after Jenna Jameson and Tera Patrick became household names, not prior to that, so in that aspect, awards did nothing to promote those girls, it was the other way around, those girls and their appearance promoted the award shows.
I’m not going to argue over how big or small Amber Rayne’s fandom is. The fact I pointed out about her was that she’s been performing in every major studio’s movies since 2006, she’s a well known person among both producers and fans, and winning an award for the most underrated female performer is not going to help or hurt her reputation, in fact it’s not going to make any difference.
You can take any bit of trivial data and make news out of it and the more news you make out of yourself the more your name is out there and the more you grow in popularity. Those at the top of the porn food chain probably don’t really give a poo who you are but they do care how many movies you can sale for them so the more popular you are typically means the more work you get booked for. I’m sure we can all agree on that?
Well … I’m trying to think of a way to say this nicely without offending anyone. Oh I know. I’ll point out the other end. Tera Patrick. Do you think she waved a magic wand to make herself the world’s most famous porn star?
Of course not. That girl sends out 200 zillion press releases a week. If you can pull some data out of your booty about her, her people will issue a press release about it and that is smart business. The more we all say her name, the more her base value goes up.
So if Tera Patrick is nominated for an award we hear about it. That’s pre AVN award show press. We may hear about it once for every nomination. If she wins an award we hear about it. And then a few months later we may hear about it again in some other press release. That’s 1 to 3 press releases for every award nomination.
Can we say the same thing for every porn star? No way. Most porn stars are like oh I was nominated? That’s great and that’s the end of it. But you can’t let that be the end of it. You have to be your own best cheerleader and use the hell out of any and every award nom you get and if you don’t, that really is your own fault for just being bad at business.
So are the AVN awards pointless? Heck no! Not to the savy pornstar or studio head that will milk every inch of press they can out of them. If you aren’t smart enough to be your own best PR person then you’ll be making low scale bondage porn in dirty back rooms for years to come and the girls like Tera Patrick will be driving their fancy sports cars.
Oh sorry one more thing. Let’s not go crazy with our statements. No offense but Amber Rayne “huge fandom”? Ummm no. I’m not saying she’s not okay or whatever but let’s not crazy and pretend like she’s Jenna Jameson or anything. She’s only been around since 2006, so how big can her fan base really be?
Kelli,
You must be Jewish as you will believe anything another Jew(Paul Fisbein) tells you. AVN awards are worthless. If they have any marketing value then the winning an Oscar for best Actor should mean that person has volumes of marketing mojo to work with but has history will tell you. The general populace doesnt give a damn about an Oscar for best actor so why on earth would a bunch of rain coaters give a damn about a plastic trophy from AVN?
In 2004 Jamie Foxx won best Actor for “Ray”. What has he done since? Oh you mean “Miami Vice” which was a complete and utter failure?
In 2002 Adrien Brody won best Actor. What has he been in lately?
In Geoffrey Rush won best Actor? Any clue who he is?
No one gives a damn about press releases. The only people that even reprint them are sites like Adultfyi and the loser Steve at AInews. Both middle and older aged guys without wives or girlfriends just barely hanging on.
Kelli, its clear you havent the vaguest idea about how money is made in this business. You are just like PornoDan and Batman. Instead of facts and hard sales number you talk about marketing and promotion.
PornoDan and Batman are hanger ons with no way to make money for anyone but themselves. Why are girls giving him free BJs? I havent he slightest clue but hopefully their landlord understands when rent is due.
But you know it SHOULD make a difference. That was my point. If she was nominated for an award that was free press she didn’t take advantage of. If she then won an award, how about that free press she should be taking advantage of. It’s a very simple concept, the more you are in the news, the more people know your name. And getting nominated and winning awards is yet another way to get your name in the news.
So if this girl is not taking advantage of winning this award by issue press releases, talking on fanboy boards, etc. about it than really that’s her own bad business practices.
And as far as Jenna and Tera goes, they didn’t actually get famous because of other companies. Jenna Jameson has said many times that she had to do it herself. She would make phone calls with a fake accent pretending to be a booking agent to book herself on radio shows and for magazine interviews. She was with Wicked at the time and their PR department didn’t return her phone calls let alone do any special bookings for her. She didn’t go with Vivid until many years later, long after she was a household name.
So again, if a girl wants to take advantage of marketing opportunities such as winning an award, then good for her. I’m sorry but it takes just as much effort to say “this award did nothing for me” than it does to say “I WON AN AWARD THIS ROCKS!!” and get someone like AVN to XBIZ to write a story about it. Or even better, get one of those large scale fanboy websites with tons of traffic to do an exclusive interview about how you won some award and what it was like. That’s tons of free press because they get exclusive content and you get the free promo they put behind it.
So AVN award = marketing tool.
Use it or don’t. It’s really up to you.
Kelli Says:
‘Jenna Jameson has said many times that she had to do it herself.’
Kelli, this one quote gave me a good idea of what kind of person and perspective I’m dealing with. This conversation ends here. I can’t go back and forth with somebody who accepts false press releases and fictional happy whore success stories over the cold, hard facts of the adult industry as an integrated business. You either have no access to factual sources and no clue about the reality behind the glamour, or you’re defending and justifying a shameless circus that is AVN for personal and/or financial reasons. Either way we agree to disagree. People can and will read both our posts and draw their own conclusions.
Have a nice day.
I thought you were bouncing for good BDD? Now you’re back talking slick shit out of the side of your neck again. Why don’t you keep the ethnic intolerance out of here. Did you get hype watching Gran Torino and think you were Walt Kowalski for a second?
I’ll tell you what Jamie Foxx, Adrien Brody and Geoffrey Rush are. Millionaires.
And I have never heard of Amber Rayne.
By the way:
Geoffrey Rush was in all three Pirates of the Carribean movies and is in talks for the fourth. You know the real Pirates.
Adrien Brody starred in King Kong after winning his Oscar, which grossed $550,517,357 worldwide. He is starring in several movies in 2009.
Jamie Foxx received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007 and is starring with Robert Downey Jr in the Soloist… Not to mention he has been nominated for Grammy’s after winning an Oscar.
AL,
You can jam all the press releases from Pam Peaks, PornoDan and all the other losers and shove them up your ass while you suck my cock.
We clear on that?
Who gives fuck about the walk of fame? You been to hollywood lately? The stars are used mostly as something to aim for while bums and junkies are taking a piss.
Let me know if you want to get backhanded again.
BDD
BDD I’m with AL on this one. Oscars count!
But Al I’m with the Colonel on Amber. I’m a civilian and I know who she is.
And Kelli…welcome aboard! They are a tough crowd but we love them! i agree with you. The award winner needs to make the award work for them!
al, discounting potc and kk (both special effects driven ensemble casts where neither had to carry the flick) have you seen some of the flicks brody and rush have been in since? hardly upped them to major stars. brody’s first starring role since the pianist, the jacket, tanked. no one’s going to finance a major flick on the back of these two guys. conceded, it’s enough to get some pissy projects off the ground.
as you’ve pointed out, they are however now in an enviable position. enough industry currency to head the list when looking to fill weirdo supporting roles.
as for foxx, the oscar did count for one thing, his bitching and moaning fucked up miami vice. first off demanding more money after he was already cast, then he refusing to return to central america to shoot the proper ending.
industry sycophants believe the hype of an award, to the general public it’s largely irrelevant.
Al, get your toilet paper roll ready, go to one of web sites where you steal porn, type Amber Rayne and get busy. You don’t have anything better to do with your life anyway, do you?
Let’s assume all of these Hollywood guys are millionaires, what’s it to you? What do you have, a pot to piss in? You can’t afford to have a girl friend, man, you’re an unattractive, mentally ill, financially bankrupt punk with a big mouth, nobody wouldn’t cross the line to piss on you if you’re on fire, let alone dating you and fucking you. That’s why you’re a smut junkie, and you can’t even afford to pay for the porn that is your bread and butter, so you have to steal it, then what’s your agenda anyway? What’s your two cents?
Let me be very clear: you are a nobody, always were, and always will be, you’re just a confused, lonley, pathetic creature. You’re a little, little man, Al Blanco. Cindi’s affectionate hand on your shoulder to keep you on her website won’t improve your life or give you credit or get you laid, you’re just beating a dead horse. Cindi is seriously putting her reputation and her livelihood on the line by posting your garbages, but that’s up to her, however I don’t have to tolerate your retarded ignorance and your bullshit, nobody else has to. So just fuck off and go try to get a life while you still can.
Colonel,
After reading your reply I instantly had a vision of AL huddled up in the corner of his crusty apartment with a picture of Kevin Fenderline torn out of an issue of people magazine gently muttering to himself . . . . “Please Colonel, dont hurt me any more, please dont hurt me any more . . please”
BDD
BDD my brother, I believe you and I share a mutual disgust towards assholes and punks of every color, race, religion and gender. God bless you.
If you think awards don’t matter then you really are more clueless than I thought.
As far as my own background in this business, I would venture to guess that I bring in more money per month in porn than you do, especially considering your overall general lack of knowledge in the basic concepts of marketing.
I could care less about who runs the awards or what his business practices may or may not be. My comments were simply regarding the marketing potential for award nominations.
And if you don’t understand the importance of press releases for SEO purposes alone then really this conversation is over as it would take me far to long to explain simple business practices to you. Might I suggest a class or two at your local community college.
Kelli, now you’re giving me a hard on. My dick got hard by reading your comment, let’s get together and do something. We’re gonna shoot a scene starring me fucking you up the ass, and if you win an AVN award for it, then with all your knowledge about the business, you can use and abuse your award as a marketing tool and become the next big thing. Come on, put up or shut up.
BDD,
Thought this site sucked so bad you were done with it? Believe me you disgusting pig, we didn’t miss you at all. Feel free to crawl back in your hole and leave LIB to the intelligent people who normally post here.
LOL!!!!!! you guys are a joke, I don’t have to reply, you do it to yourself
Still lusting for XX year old girls and drinking your Pabst Blue Ribbon kernel ha ha ha, fake ass loser ha ha ha… riding those big dicks because you love the attention?
kernel thinks he was in gran torino also… you are old, just stop already kernel, sargeant or whatever fake ass shit you want to call yourself…
bdd, please take kernels dick out of your mouth again… i honestly think you two could be the same person
oh yeah kernel, one more thing… Cindi is just nice to you lol… when someone is nice to you, it doesn’t mean you are good friends, though I don’t know we’ve never been so hard up for conversation we talked about you… I’ll take a bullet for my, “good friends”… think you’d take one for Cindi? better yet, think she is taking one for your ass? lol
Cindi asked me to write for the site before I ever visited the site. You bombarded with comments in an attempt to get her to offer you an opportunity. You used irritation to get your shit, I was just me 😉
At least you’ll have your social security payments next year, I still have roughly 40 years before I’m old enough… damn, it feels good to be young kernel
the point jed, is that why would someone compare an Oscar to an AVN award in the first place? just because it is an award? the point is, you win an Oscar, you are set in this life… you can make whatever kind of movies you want to make and you will live comfortable… you are going to compare women who get fucked on camera to Meryl Streep? get the fuck outta here with that… BDD is so condescending he thinks we don’t know who a major actor who is still working is? what the fuck do you think i watch, bollywood?
Al, you bipolar fuck, I’ve been a friend of Luke Ford long before Cindi took over LIB, I’ve been commenting and contributing to this website when you were sucking cocks at your high school. Why? Because I’m a part of the adult community and because I enjoy it, what about you, monkey? Who are you, and where do you belong? What do you have to be recognized with?
You are so stupid and so retarded that you can’t understand what’s the differnce between someone being your friend and someone being affectionate to you because she feels sorry for you, because she sees you as the ultimate two bit loser that you are. However, if only you could understand, you would get the fuck out of here and stop embarrassing Cindi. When an amatuer clown like you writes cheap crap on a professional website which is dependaent on increasing readership and selling ad space, it’s damaging to business, career and reputation of that website, readers get turned off and ratings drop, advertisers get turned off and don’t purchase ad space, and eventually it drives that website into the ground. When Luke Ford was running LIB, ads were all over here, how many ads are here now? See Al, the world is bigger than your crumbling shit hole apartment, and it doesn’t revolve around your worthless existence, but then again, if you could understand any of that, you would have been something, somebody, but instead you’re a lonely, delusional, poor, repulsive, thieving smut junkie. Go kill yourself.
LOL!!!! damn kernel, did BDD take his mouth off of your little old pink dick??? you sound upset….
how, many, commas, are, you going, to use LOL!!!
dick riding homo!!!! ha ha ha ha ha
go to your mini fridge, grab a Pabst and chill… chill means relax kernel… I believe you are a part of the adult community… you are good friends with Cindi too… I really do believe you, honestly… you are a pimp, and real cool and intelligent too… honestly, I believe you…
kernel… I don’t even live in NY anymore, I live in a beautiful house and have always had my own money because i’ve always hustled… I just vacationed in Cabo for new years… what did you do?
kay that’s cool, still never heard of that chick…
How come the ladies that comment on this site (with some exceptions) are cooler, more interesting, more insightful and just plain more real than the men?
Al, you’re my bitch, like it or not, your ass is mine, I can slap you around, make you dance, fuck with you and turn you upside down whenever I want, however I want, you poor little ass licking faggot. The best pary is that you don’t even know what’s going on.
Good night, Alfonso Retardo.
kernel, come out the closet already… look at that gay shit you are saying… then you call other men your “monkey” that’s either gay or racist… you know saying monkey as slang refers literally to a cock, or is a racist term for a black man… how does bdd’s sperm cocktail taste kern?
you remind me of that neighbor kid’s dad in American Beauty… an old southern gay man who is disgusted by his own sexuality… he ends up killing himself, lets hope life imitates art…
hey kernel… did you get the hooked on phonics book I sent you? It’s the volume on commas and how they are used… I know you never see commas in checks, so that could be why you are so unfamiliar with them…
Al, don’t play race card on me, monkey. You don’t even know me.
I didn’t get the book you sent me, but you’re welcome to come to my house, proof read my writings, clean my place and wipe my ass after I take a shit. Just bring some family members so I can fuck every evening while you’re cooking my dinner.
lol… I don’t have any gay family members kern…