From the poolside bikini contests to the cigar parties in backroom suites to the show floor itself, the feeling was everywhere: the shakedown is happening. The heady early days of the Web, where any idiot with a couple hundred bucks and a lack of conventional morals could become a millionaire is giving way to a new world where porno over-saturation, increased competition, and legal and revenue hurdles are shaking the adult tree, and the monkeys are rapidly falling to their deaths. The larger players are digging in their heels and turning obstacles - economic and legal - into opportunities, while the clueless seem convinced the online smut industry will remain in 2000-bubble-mode forever.
"There's definitively a pall over the show," YNOT Network's Jim Ruga told AVN Online. "It's not a big party. It's a business. This whole shake-up: The conservatism in the country, the shake-up with billing in the industry, the shake-up with people being prosecuted for content that's not legal in certain areas, these things will make the adult Internet industry more professional, and will make people take it more seriously."
The overall tone of the fall Internext, held Aug. 1-3 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Hotel in Hollywood, wasn't doom and gloom - if you pack a billion-dollar hotel outside of Miami to the rafters with over 3,000 adult Webmasters, models, and other industry pros, you're not gonna have a dour cloud hanging over the weekend - but there was a noticeable seriousness underlying the typical Internext shenanigans, even something close to maturity.
The scene was like the background of a Puff Daddy video: a thousand-room, five-star resort hotel built on a baby-powder fine white-sand beach, featured a full plate of amenities including several first-rate restaurants, a world-renowned spa, a double-decked, 240-foot lagoon-style pool and, of course, the supernaturally blue ocean just feet from the hotel's back door.
In spite of the many tropical distractions (and rum-based drinks), adult Webmasters usually managed to make it to the show floor for the three days of the convention itself. Held in the cavernous Great Hall of the Diplomat's own convention center, 140 exhibitors packed the hall with booths, displays, and hot babes. "It's definitely a good crowd and a great show," commented Greg Dumas, president of online marketer GEC Media. "It's nice to be able to meet the people you've only spoken to on phone and through e-mail, have a cup of coffee and connect a name with the face."
Most of the show floor booths were scaled down affairs - gone were the garish displays of years past, along with some of the "big players" from previous Internexts (Like Whoa, Shaw Internet, Adult NetSurprise, CE Cash) - but there was still a good amount of eye candy, including a Humvee put on display by AdultLounge.com (sadly, the vehicle was not a giveaway), a couple of pinball machines set up by Python Communications, and the medical-themed booth of Florida natives The Smut Doctors. Lexington Steele was manning the Leading Edge Cash booth (Heidi Fleiss was scheduled, but Fleiss flaked) and Kira Kener and Savanna Samson were glad-handing at the Vivid Video booth, while the men and women of strip-e-gram were available for photo opportunities at the X2K Media Services booth.
Sex toy manufacturers are always good for interesting displays, and they didn't disappoint. Sinulate, was demonstrating its vibrating, Web-enabled wares using a live model holed up in a distant hotel room, while Know Mind Enterprises caught eyes with a full selection of glass dildos, as well as a copy of their utility patent for spinning glass sexual aids.
Some of the main topics of conversation that dominated many face-to-face meetings at Internext (other than what parties to go to) were the threat posed by Acacia, the changes in processing wrought by Visa, and what effect the economy and the right-wing Whitehouse administration might have on the adult industry.
"I think the Acacia and Visa issues are overhanging the show," Said Aly Drummond of Python. "It's something everyone is talking about, so it's great that we have this event, where everyone can get together and yak about these two very major issue the industry is facing right now.... A lot of people who may have thought they were out there alone, being attacked by some strange company, Acacia, now realize it's a big issue affecting a lot of people, and they can see what steps other people are choosing to take."
"Right now we're in survival mode," explained Douglas Wicks of CCBill/CaveCreek (www.ccbill.com; www.cavecreek.com) and DRM Networks, echoing the feeling of many Internext attendees. "But I don't think we're going to see a significant decrease in business. Those who survive are going to see an increase in business. Traffic doesn't go away."
Judging by the number of alternative billing methods available to webmasters, credit card processing problems were on a lot of people's minds. There were European dialers, direct bank account debiting solutions and companies willing to bill surfers by mail for their adult website usage. "Acacia and processing are pretty much big preoccupations for everyone in the business - especially the US market," said Brett Roper of Carpe Diem/EuroDialer/FastmanBucks (www.carpediem.fr; www.eurodialer.com; www.fastmanbucks.com). "We're a European company, so for the time being, everything's fine. We've had a lot of inquiries today about dialer services.... I think the US/Canadian markets are figuring out that they're going to have to go abroad to make it."
Among the more politically oriented attendees, there was much discussion about what Webmasters have done about the legal challenges facing our industry, and what they might do differently in the future. "I've always referred to the Internet as the grasshoppers and the video industry as the ants," said Bill Margold of the Free Speech Coalition. "In the �sop fable, when winter came the grasshopper froze to death. I think that what happens in the Internet world; the turnover is so fast, that they rake off the topsoil and leave the dust for someone else to pick up the pieces, so they're not as concerned about the sociological, philosophical, or even legal issues, because they're here for the short term "
Impossible to miss at Internext: Porn's own Max Hardcore, (www.maxhardcore.com; www.cowboybucks.com) who had his own take on the legal issues facing the industry (and him personally). "It's complete and utter fucking bullshit," a thoughtful Hardcore said of his pending obscenity trial. "It's a total piece of crap, a complete and utter waste of manpower and resources for everyone involved. I know I'm going to win. It's just harassment."
These issues and more were the topics at Internext's varied roundtable discussions (all of which are covered in depth elsewhere in this section), but for a huge percentage of Interenext attendees, the real story was the parties. The shindigs ran the gamut from small, exclusive get-togethers hosted in big players' suites to clogged-out affairs that approached Mardi Gras levels of crowdedness and debauchery.
Along with the denizens of the Intraweb, a few mainstream celebs were spotted at some Internext events. Rumor has it that washed-up rocker Tommy Lee was sniffing around the show floor, and there were even reports that famous double murderer O.J. Simpson was prowling for new victims at an Internext party held at the Solid Gold strip club. Maybe The Juice was scooping out Lori Alexi, who took home the title of Miss Nude USA at the Cheetahs club in Hollendale. We may never know.
This years' big party controversy revolved around the conduct of some of Internext's less couth attendees. Rumors thrown around the messages boards after the show included the allegation that some individuals who shall remain nameless used the GigaMix boat as an outhouse, the charge that a chair was thrown from a balcony, and the accusation that a ne'er-do-well absconded with some custom bikinis Silver Cash brought for their poolside T&A contest. Most serious of all: the heated discussion of what kinds of disease precautions were taken for the performers at the TopBucks and QuickBuck Pornopalooza party and XBiz's GigaMix Industry Cruise. "It's like a bachelor party, but invitation-only and not planned," said Raffi Vartanian, the CEO of AdultLounge.com, and the man behind the DVD/VHS release, Dirty Road Trip: Naughty Neightbors 1. "It's just like any party, just a bunch of girls picking up on guys and guys picking up on girls. They did whatever they were comfortable with."
Officially, AVN Online frowns upon bad behavior at Internext shows, but unofficially, we can't help but be a little disappointed that the worst mischief a whole hotel full of sex workers could come up with was a thrown chair, some missing bikinis, and a bareback fuck show. Even the local constabulary, hardened by years of rowdy Spring Breakers, was complimentary of the deportment of the out-of-town sex fiends. "This convention is actually pretty laid back," Seargent Pardon of the Hollywood Police Department noted. "No major problems." We guess the adult Web is growing up after all.
Whether they were there to ogle naked broads or make important fiduciary connections, all the attendees who AVN Online spoke with considered the getaway weekend a huge success, both for business and for fun. "The smaller shows are really better for networking, where you can talk to someone at a party and the music's not blaring and there are no strippers in your face," Steve Lightspeed, CEO of Lightspeed Media, told AVN Online.
Bosshawg of LoverCash agreed. "This is my third year attending, but by far our biggest as a company," he said. "If I gained anything from the whole weekend, it would have been just the face to face time I had with all our current Webmasters, as well as the big program owners who we hope to do a lot of business with in the near future. Overall, the show was a huge success." We couldn't agree more.
If you didn't make it to the show, be sure to book your ticket to the next Florida blowout, to be held August 13-15, 2004. See you there!
