Posted by mikezillion at February 26th, 2008

In a great follow-up to the emerging discussion about what a “free” really means for the marketplace, Alex Iskold has posted an article with a solid warning about the dangers of “free”-dom.

It’s not only the impact on the seller. The customer gets stuck with whatever the suppliers choose to offer when the market is controlled by free providers. And this is certainly something the average porn consumer is seeing.

Remember the days when a VHS copy of your favorite porn title cost $79.95? There was a plot, there were characters, and there was this sense that all of those hot, sexy people were somehow safely unattainable except in the realm of fantasy. The customer’s experience was usually either mail order, or at the counter of a store on the outskirts of town. This was a market which knew what it wanted, and was willing to stretch to the limit in order to obtain it.

Nowadays, a porn consumer need only click on the same mouse he uses when paying his taxes, writing letters to his mother, or updating his blog. There is rarely the need to pay for porn, since a single click will adequately verify that the viewer is a legal adult–if the website hosting the porn is even responsible enough to ask. And what comes for free is often just as effective in satisfying the needs of the viewer as what he might otherwise have to buy for $29.95 a month, or $49.95 on DVD.

How hardcore does a fan have to be these days to shell out $49.95 for a permanent souvenir of 90 minutes of porn featuring his favorite performer?

But free porn can only be provided by the biggest companies, who can afford the luxury of giving away their products without driving their business into the ground. These companies survive on the hope that a free scene will sell a subscription to a site that offers more of the same. That means that the innovators at the fringes of the market must make do with less and less in order to sustain themselves. And the general market must settle for more and more mediocre product that looks just like everything else out there.

Sounds a little like Hollywood, or TV, to me. The passionate indie filmmakers operate at a loss, hoping their success in something that fuels their passion might translate into a cushy studio job turning out the same mainstream schlock they can’t stand to watch.

You can get depressed, or you can get angry, but you can’t blame the customer. Free is a very compelling marketing pitch. Customers will always take free. Beware of the business that seems to be offering more for free than you can offer.