Over 10 percent of American adult cabarets have disappeared in the last year to a year and a half, according to the National Cabaret Association. The group posted the statistic as it announced a new bank to fund lobbying efforts on behalf of adult businesses.
"After several weeks of intensive work, the ultimate adult entertainment business list is just about complete, and producing amazing statistics," says NCA lobbyist Mike Ross. "The number one statistic is that over 10 percent of the nation's cabarets have gone out of business for one reason or another."
Ross says it's difficult to get actual causes when "we can't get a hold of them to ask why they went out of business." But the most common reasons for an adult business's failure, he adds, include mismanagement, competition, litigation, problems with entertainers and circumstantial reasons. He says the prime reason is inept ownership.
"A lot of them haven't kept up with the times," Ross continues. "They don't know what's going on in the year 2000, let alone in the late 1990s. There's a whole new ball game, there's a lot more competition, the government is not your friend but it is out to get you, and if you don't do something in advance, you wind up in court and spend hundreds of thousands fighting, which, maybe, you can't afford."
The group set up a phone bank over a month ago to gather information about adult businesses across the U.S. They're also planning a bank - an online bank aimed at teaching people about credit, completely secure and free, with the NCA as the industry's exclusive representatives, Ross says.
Acknowledging they "dove head first" into the idea, after they discussed but gave up on the idea of a brick-and-mortar bank, the NCA is aiming to show adult entertainment industry members how to build, expand and protect finances. "When fully implemented, the program will address some of the industry's financial needs and concerns, for earmarked programs we have slated for 2000 and 2001," Ross said - including, especially, political lobbying and other activity
The NCA has what Ross calls a four-tiered budget, including a $100,000 operational budget, a state operations budget involving state NCA affiliates approaching $75,000, a campaign donations budget, and a budget for hiring lobbyists at $30-60,000 per year per state. He says those budgets could be supported by dues "if only everyone made a pledge, donated, and paid their pledges."
The bank should be "perfect" for ATM users, and adult entertainers and consumers can join the NCA for no charge. "There's an opportunity for employees, entertainers, and consumers to learn about a wide range of financial topics, as seen from ownership or management's point of view," Ross says. "To do this, the site provides educational information relating to the international credit system, and encourages users to make the transition to the on-line banking world, which is provided free by our affiliates. Bank benefits include all of the bank's normal services, plus free checking and ATM transactions, Money Market Accounts, Debit & Credit Cards," as well as helping to repair and maintain credit.
The NCA bank also aims to find ways to process loans and process MasterCard or Visa at half the going rate, Ross says. "And that's money we'll use on lobbying efforts," he says. "What makes this extremely exciting is that we also receive a piece of the pie on all money spent on credit cards and loans. And as we grow, we will involve other banks, expanding our opportunities."
They're not saying what it might mean in dollars yet, but the NCA is estimating a few million accounts opening in the next three years. Accounts will begin at $100 minimums with several checking and savings options. You can check out more about the NCA bank by visiting www.howcreditworks.com.
Meanwhile, the NCA is also compiling a comprehensive list of live entertainment adult businesses in the United States. They'll limit it, though, to those which have solidified First Amendment protection, "meaning no escorts, massage, prostitution, body rub, or lingerie businesses are included," Ross says, except in states like Nevada, where brothels are legal in some areas.
And Ross is continuing his active support of a somewhat controversial idea for live adult entertainers: identification cards. The reason? Protection.
"A lot of people laugh because they think I'm saying pro-censorship," he says. "But if you turn around and license your dancers, and they get licensed by the city or the state as being 18, when you come in and raid my place and she's really 16 but she has a license given to her by the police department or the state, then whose fault will it be?"
He says it would be far less costly if states would consider governing and issuing identification and registration. "Localities want to have them, each little enclave wants to have them, wants their own card," he says. "That's maybe five cards you need, depending. Each of them costs, maybe, say, $100. Now, if I say come up with one card that would save everyone the time, the hassle, the money, then the only other problem you have is, how long would it take to get the permit. That's the only other thing to work out."
