Thursday, August 15, 2013

Video Killed The Porno Star

Video killed the radio star.

Not sure what that meant when they first starting singing that in the '80s but now it's clear - a different mode of engagement changed the music business, changed what music was made and what could be sold. 

When you were in front of your TV screen who had time to listen to the radio?

It also happened to movies and now it's happened to pornography.  The internet killed professional porn.

Back in the old fogey days I had to go to a movie theatre and buy a ticket to sit in front of a large 30-foot-high screen showing naked people fucking (and next to a dozen guys in the rows next to me jacking off along with me).  It cost money to distribute 35mm films and only real filmmakers could play. 

Then I got the VHSs delivered to my door and the rise of shot-on-video made plot superfluous and the selection overwhelming.

There was a lot of junk out there.  Professional porn companies tried to hire the most beautiful, nastiest women to get attention but when the tube sites such as YouPorn and Pornhub began to show me the good scenes there was no longer any need to buy the DVDs.

Pop will eat itself.  When it was up on 100s of websites for free, who needed to buy it?  Some companies tried to increase production values and make classy and expensive porn epics with extras like those "Pirates" films but those were soon stolen and online for free as well. 

True adult features like the ones Henry Paris made for sitting in a theatre (1966 -1978) made way for the kind Cecil Howard made (1976-1985), better for home video and fast-forwarding in scene-sized chunks, to the wall-to-wall of John Stagliano (1984 - present) that never get viewed in one sitting. 

The pieces are more important than the whole.  And now that the means of production are in the hands of the amateurs we've all turned their back on the pros.  Amateurs can make more real, hot, weird and sexy porn in our own bedrooms, backyards and office cubicles than all the fake tits and HD cameras Elegant Angel can scare up.  When the pros try to do something it just gets ripped within 24 hours and anyone can sample "Iron Man xxx Parody" for free.  But have you seen that couple fucking on BART?

You can jerk off to xhamster or yuvutube for a whole year and never see the same clip twice. 

It used to be the concert tours would advertise the records and help their sales.  Now the music is used to advertise the concert tours.  Groups give the music away for free to charge $100 a ticket and another $35 for the shirt. 

Now the pros are throwing their best stuff up on the tube sites as well, to keep their brands alive.  I see Brazzer clips all the time everywhere, with their posed HD come-ons.

Some porn fans DO still buy DVDs, but it's usually at Las Vegas conventions where they can have them signed by their favorite porn stars, and she'll sell you a pair of her panties for $40 personally signed. If you want them personally something-else you'll pay a lot more.

So the clips have become ads for smelly panties.  We've gone full circle.  The old classy high-production features I grew up with are a nostalgia act.  Now porn is about webcams and the clutter on the counter behind you.  When you're in front of your screen who needs professionals?


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