I found a pretty insightful rant (safe for work) copied from the business guy at the altporn site Suicide Girls. I wish the RIAA would start tracking how people hear about the albums that they buy, so that they could stop freaking out.
Porn has a long history of figuring out how to use new media to their advantage. Perhaps because porn is driven by our basest instinct we understand it on far deeper levels than widget building, and can apply that understanding to things that we don’t fully comprehend intellectually. Maybe it’s just because there’s such intense competition in the industry that forces companies to innovate. I’m sure there’s a “free hand of the market” joke in there, but I’ll be damned if I can find it.
The VCR was largely decried by the MPAA because they saw it as cutting into their profits. When the VCR was still new, MPAA president Jack Valenti said the "VCR is [to the movie industry]…as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." (which of course means that he "wasn’t opposed to the VCR"). A driver of early VCR purchases was being able to watch porn movies without having to go to theaters filled with creepier people than you. Fast forward 20 years and that Boston strangler makes up a huge portion of movie studio profits.
While I’m skeptical that porn can drive any technology – who really needs porn on their cellphone at blazing speeds – the porn industry typically ahead of the curve. Let’s hope the RIAA realizes this and stops suing 12 year old girls.