Things Are Looking Up in Many Porn Industry

The adult porn industry got in a wide range of fights in 2014, and from the look of things, 2015 is going to be a brawler of a year as well.

Piracy and condoms continue to be the porn business’ chief battlegrounds. While the push for a controversial bill that might have criminalized the production of porn without condoms anywhere in California died in committee last year, a circuit judge upheld an existing, similar regulation in Los Angeles County (where 60 to 70 percent of U. S. porn films are shot).

And piracy, which costs the industry millions of dollars annually continues to run rampant. In 2014, Nate Glass, owner of Takedown Piracy, a copyright enforcement service, estimations he sent out 24, 716 copyright law notices to sites— and expects to send more this year.

“It’s hard to say exactly how much piracy costs the adult market, since companies aren’t needed to make yearly revenues open public, ” said Glass. “However, you can see the decline in production where fewer companies are shooting new content and there’s less work for artists…. I know back in 2009 while i was working for studios we all saw about a 50 percent drop in DVD sales during the period of the year; that’s when the go really began. ”

“The industry’s stabilizing, but still on the rocks. inch
Globally, adult porn is a $97 billion sector, according to Kassia Wosick, assistant professor of sociology at New Mexico Express University. At present, between $10,50 and $12 billion of this comes from the United States.

Revenue from traditional porn films has been shrinking for the past several years, though. Businesses just like live webcam models and adult novelties have helped fill that gap— yet Wosick notes that most of the industry’s financial information is much less concrete numbers and more estimations.

Former Topless Model Mourns Apparent End of Tabloid Tradition
Jan. 20, 201500: 42
Despite the legal and piracy difficulties, porn has arguably hardly ever been such a visible portion of the pop culture landscape. Sex toys are sold in corner drugstores. Several adult actresses appeared on popular television series, including “Sons of Anarchy. ” And later this year the cinematic version of “50 Gradation of Grey”— with a strong concentrate on the bondage fetish— will hit theaters— and is likely to be one of 2015’s big hits.

“The industry’s stabilizing, but still within the rocks, ” said Chauntelle Tibbals, an independent sociologist (and former visiting scholar in the University of Southern California) who studies the adult entertainment industry. “The big purges we were seeing when it comes to… lots of companies closing seems— from a far distance— to be leveling off— and that’s a good thing, but one rugged thing that’s happening may be the issue of expression. And I think that’s going to be a continuing issue in 2015. ”

A Red Flag
Expression became a red light in December when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the Los Angeles condom law. In its ruling, Judge Susan P. Graber, writing for the three-member panel’s majority, noted “The condom mandate survives intermediate examination because it has only a trivial impact on expression… and leaves open up adequate alternative means of expression”.

“The thought of controlling sexual expression like that chicas maduras is absolutely frightening, ” stated Tibbals. “It shows the court is more interested in controlling the adult industry in terms of expression than it is with STI transmissions. ”

The ongoing legal battle more than condom usage in LA and the threat that the SUPPORTS Healthcare Foundation, which contributed the charge on Check B, will once again drive for a statewide law features renewed speculation that a lot of companies may move via California— with Nevada generally mentioned as a possible new home (despite the fact that recording porn in that state remains illegal).

Inspite of the potential struggles, many market insiders are upbeat regarding the year to come, declaring they feel adult entertainment is getting a new beginning of forms.

“There’s the sense of optimism, ” said Alec Helmy, owner and publisher of market trade Xbiz. “I imagine the companies that have stood long use are no longer dwelling on the history and have figured out a way to stay viable. I would say it’s a new era for the industry. ”

Chanel Preston, one of porn’s top stars, agrees.

“When I got in the industry in 2010, I feel like that was the lowest point, inches she said. “People had been struggling with the Internet and businesses were getting pushed away. It was the true test with the industry. Now, four to five years later, the companies are starting to adapt to the new technology and figuring out how to use it to their benefit. The companies that not necessarily willing or couldn’t do that got weeded out. ”