Greg Lansky

No surprise there. For a while now, it's felt like he's had no involvement in all those sites/studios he created.

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So it would be telling since they didn't have a vixen angel for desember or january for that mather

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Kate Kennedy tweeted that Greg cancelled her first anal scene, which was planned for Tushy, and told her it was because she wasn't pretty enough.

Mike Quasar commented on Greg's departure, citing it as "evidence that ego can only take you so far."

Xander Corvus also tweeted to criticize the branding of Blacked.com, and this is pretty gold, so I'm going to quote it verbatim. "Hey, you know you can shoot black folks without selling the idea as 'hey look they're black!' Hey Look it's black people dot com! Come look at the black people! Just shoot Porn. Stop. Selling. Racism."

The fact that people had to wait until Lansky made his departure from the industry to say these things speaks volumes about the power he wielded... and how he wielded it. I've suspected for years that he was more focused on brand building, as well as, *ahem* let's be delicate here... "influencing the narrative", than he ever was on running a profitable porn studio. I mean, just look at the way he ran Vixen. On the surface, it makes no sense. Paying through the nose for exclusive models, timed-exclusive deals for anal and IR, helicopter photo shoots over the skies of Paris, lavish and expensive parties thrown solely for the benefit of the people attending them (and one person in particular)... after all, with no resulting product to sell, they cannot generate any revenue for the company... don't forget the "Vixen Angels" vanity project, which made no money by design and was pretty much 100% a branding thing... The man must have been bleeding cash. He's been running VMG like a lifestyle brand!

Paid celebrity endorsements, too. *cough* Did I say that? My mistake, I'm sure Kanye name-dropped Blacked on the Jimmy Kimmel show for free...

He was clearly focused on building the brand with an eventual sale in mind. I have a difficult time believing that he was chasing subscription revenues alone, although I'm sure he did profit from those, especially in the beginning. I mean, I'm not saying his studios never made any money, but I am saying he ran them with a focus on branding and that cash-out endgame. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but sooner or later it does affect the quality of the content. Money is thrown at the wrong things and the brand is valued over the actual product; ultimately, the core customer base suffers for it.

I can tell you anecdotally that the branding can be a deciding factor for several models who are looking to choose which studio will shoot their debut hardcore (or anal, or IR) scenes. The "upscale" professional image, not to mention the expensive perks bestowed upon his featured models, appeal to women quite a bit, which gives Lansky's sites an edge over their competitors when vying for new girls, even though the services performed are essentially identical no matter where they choose to do them. I'm sure the Vixen Angels project was concocted to boost the power of that image even further.

Pierre Woodman expressed a fond farewell, though.

Look... I have very mixed feelings about this man's legacy. To be clear, he is a great pornographer. I like his style of shooting, and he has excellent taste in women. His content is not the problem. It's the behind-the-scenes drama and the general way he conducts himself. It always felt a little dishonest to me, more than a little pretentious, and very anti-competitive. (Actually, the fact that his content is so good makes it even more depressing that a lot of the success of his business model can be attributed to this egocentric status crap. I'm not sure that the overall effect on the industry has been a net positive.) Anyway, that's my two cents, for the one cent that it's worth...

EDIT: And to be clear, he's far from the worst person in porn. He's really not even a bad guy. I could write a book about people I've encountered who are far worse than Greg Lansky... so I'm not trying to talk shit. He's just a flawed man, as we all are, and so his legacy is flawed. This news just brings a lot of that into perspective for me. I suppose I'm in a contemplative mood today. Anyway... I haven't gone off like this in a while, and I did not intend to write a hit piece about a guy who is undeniably talented and worked hard for his success... so I hope I don't regret posting any of this tomorrow.

Edited by - evilpineapples on 1/15/2020 5:56:01 PM

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Or, did I read it all wrong and the middle paragraphs between Corvus and Woodman are all quotes from Corvus?

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I think the huge emphasis on the "luxury porn studio" brand is anti-competitive and predicated on a lie of an image that VMG spends obscene amounts of money to build, maintain, and promote. The lines out the door which you spoke of can be attributed in large part to the power of that brand... I know because models (plural, with an "s") have told me so, which means the brand can be the deciding factor for models who are choosing where they want to go for their first scenes. To be clear, "the brand" encompasses a lot of things, so it's not just the image, but the lavish parties, the rock star treatment, the publicity that comes from being mentioned on national television...

Why is this a problem for the industry? Simply, because other producers who want to book these models, to do essentially the same work, are being edged out by a fucking brand which they cannot possibly afford to compete with. Even a guy like Rocco Siffredi, who is a legend and has earned his stripes, and who owns a gigantic "porn boot camp" complex in Hungary (complete with a swank pool and go-karts and shit!), doesn't throw out thousands of dollars to rent a helicopter for that one ten-second shot of the model stepping out while the blades are still spinning. He doesn't throw lavish parties that exist solely to make the models happy so that they won't shoot for other producers, or at least not "the good stuff." (anal, IR, etc.)

There's other stuff that I won't get into here because it would probably be considered against forum rules for me to talk about it...

I just think it's had a chilling effect on the industry. I know guys who have had to pack it up and call it quits because they can't compete.

Again, the actual content on VMG sites is very good, which just makes all of this even more disheartening because the branding isn't necessary for VMG to be successful... but it's not about success, it's about dominance, and that's the problem. I don't like the prospect of an industry governed by 3-4 massive entities who can afford to price out all potential competition.

Edited by - evilpineapples on 1/15/2020 6:43:56 PM

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Sounds to me like you're a competitor with a case of sour grapes because they went high end and you couldn't compete. As in all businesses, the cream rises to the top and others falter. It's the porn business, not the porn friendship, and if I thought about it, I could probably name 10 porn company names that were well known and successful that went out of business long before Blacked came along.

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I'm doing fine, by the way, but I know many people who can't say the same.

Edited by - evilpineapples on 1/15/2020 7:46:50 PM

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Since the early launch of Blacked.com Greg and his partners have supported Adult DVD Talk, communicated directly with fans, made performers look and feel good, and produced beautiful content. Thank you, Greg and Vixen Media Group!

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Edited by - evilpineapples on 1/16/2020 1:38:25 PM

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I'm also rather confused by your earlier argument that all the branding efforts have contributed nothing to Vixen Media's revenues and bottom line, when you went on to admit that they've been crucial in helping Lansky secure tons of exclusive models and their "firsts". What do you believe is the point of having lots of exclusive content available? (Leaving aside that Lansky hardly invented the exclusivity concept for porn.) That these models could have done "the same work" for any Tom, Dick and Harry who's capable of holding a camera in Europe is completely irrelevant, and frankly smacks of entitlement.

Yes, Lansky has an ego so huge it can be seen from the moon, and as far as I recall the Kate Kennedy story also isn't the first one about him telling a model she's not pretty enough for his brand, but I doubt you can swing a cat in the porn business and not hit another producer who's guilty of the exact same things, and more.

Edit: As for your contention that Lansky only ever did any of this stuff with an eye on cashing out big eventually, that seems like a rather weird conclusion to draw when he has seemingly simply sold his stake in Vixen Media to the two guys who put up most of the money to start up the company in the first place. Surely they're the ones who would have stopped him long ago if they'd felt he was just creating a bubble to cash out on before it bursts.

Edited by - shalalin on 1/16/2020 8:56:34 PM

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Why do you think the girls are made to feel like they don't matter at other studios? Where does that notion come from in the first place? I have observed the exact opposite to be the case. Just because European porn skews harder does not mean that the girls are treated badly. It may surprise you to hear this, but the "hardness" of the scenes does not indicate anything about the way the performers are treated behind-the-scenes as human beings. The image of the overweight, aloof Russian sex trafficker who throws money at vulnerable girls to make them do shameful things on camera is as inaccurate as the idea that performers are riddled with STDs because of their sex habits.

My point was that Lansky's network perpetuates the image of being more upscale, when it is actually not that different from anybody else, which is a marketing strategy and nothing more. The content is top-tier, with high production values and expensive scenery, but Lansky is far from the only producer shooting in that style.

It is the implication of superiority that bothers me.

Anyway...

Let's back away from the nitty-gritty for a second so that I can clarify one thing. I don't think Lansky is a total piece of shit or anything of that nature. I made my comments as a response to the negative anecdotes posted about him by industry professionals, to meditate and offer my own views as an expression of my individual opinion and nothing more. I speak for no one but myself.

Clearly, Lansky's legacy is powerful. He has made his mark on the industry and it took a lot of talent and hard work to manifest that dream. I don't deny that he is talented or that he worked hard to achieve the things he did. That would be silly. I do not hate Greg Lansky and I'm sure he's a generally nice (if egotistical) person in real life. I wouldn't know. I have only spoken to him on one occasion and know very little about him. I just have a little bone to pick about the effect his success has had on the rest of the industry. I have picked said bone pretty much clean at this point, so there is little else to be said on the subject.

Edited by - evilpineapples on 1/17/2020 6:00:08 PM

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Greg saw an opportunity to produce a type of porn that was almost non-existant before he came onto the scene and he had the money to make it happen. I had many years of enjoyment from watching what he put out but I also had just as many years of frustration that while it was good. It could have been much better with a better developed scenario. I hope that whoever takes over doesn't try to re-invent the wheel because it takes a lot less time to destroy a thing than it does to build it.

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Unfortunalety his style for Vixen and the others Vixen-sites was not my cup of tea because every scene was the same with the same action in the same order

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VMG started as a smallish company, competing against giant gorillas like Team Skeet and Mindgeek. Mindgeek could easily pay more to compete with VMG's expenditure. They didn't, and that's there business decision. Nothing is stopping another company from coming in, and start competing with VMG.

Actually, a situation like this played out. Remember X-art? They were the big dogs in the cinematic style. They were paying models $5-$10k per scene, long before VMG. Through poor management and consumer-unfriendly behavior, X-art started faltering. VMG came in, hired away their production team, and filled the void for consumers who were no longer being served by X-art's poor production schedule and quality. In this regard, VMG has helped consumers and the industry greatly.

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Additionally, VMG had done tests with their marketing using racial branding akin to "girl loves gangsta cock" and "forbidden jungle fever" versus non-racial branding to focus on the positive stereotype of black guy = big dicks, and the results were resoundingly in favor of black guy = big dicks. Meaning, the consumers were not racist as well. Xander Corvus is wrong and I would argue he is perpetuating a negative stereotype.

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A better reason to call our Corvus would be to highlight the many other categories of porn that exist solely to say "hey, look at [insert body type or identity group]." It's a bit like finding race play beyond the pale but thinking nothing of watching BDSM that centers around gender differences.

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But I stand by my argument. Racism is antagonism and discrimination against someone of a different race. The content of VMG's videos do not show such behavior. Business-wise, VMG treats their performers very well, and helped raise the level of compensation for black performers.

I also didn't say none of the viewers could be racist, but the results of the marketing showed a larger negative response to the more racially-charged, negative stereotype marketing.

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so the taboo is there if there is any interracial relationchip , it's either clandestine or unequal

this boundary has yet to be crossed at least with consistency

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But this is the point, unless he tops her socially no white woman would hang up with a black man in serious relationships (still talking about porn) it's just sex a nothing more , it's no different when it comes to Black women and white men , only they don't need to top the men , being hot and available would be enough to any man

Anyway black men and women in power aren't that uncommon in mainstream cinema many Judges, CEOs, Attorneys , Police Captains are often black you may even believe it's actually them who hold the power in the States

Edited by - LCF on 1/22/2020 11:57:34 AM

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This does not mean that Blacked portrays black people in a negative light (because it doesn't), but rather that Blacked is aware of the taboo on interracial sex and is exploiting it to create an "edgy" vibe for its brand. Again, this is all down to marketing. The scenes themselves are not very racial; most of Lansky's content is just X-art, but with black people, so apart from the occasional reference in the opening narration, there is nothing racial about the dynamic between the performers. (For example, they never use the word nigger, and I do not think they have ever indulged the sadism of the "black revenge" race fantasy either.) For the most part, the racial context of the content is created by the way they are marketed.

I believe the argument Xander put forth in his Twitter thread was simply that the glorification of this taboo perpetuates racism, because it encourages people to think in terms of race and find sexual gratification from the "race play" of a black man fucking a white woman. It's a subtle way of saying interracial relationships are still "wrong" on some level, or at least worthy of differentiation from "normal" relationships, when that should no longer be the case today.

As for my own opinion on the subject, I don't think it's a grave sin for people who get off on this taboo to indulge their perversion, but I can see why it might feel a bit threatening to some folks. I cannot fault Blacked entirely for choosing to market their content in a racial way because the consumer demand for race-themed porn is clearly alive and well. Change will come gradually, as it always does, and people will update their attitudes about interracial relationships over time. We're just not there yet. I would be singing a different tune if Blacked stereotyped its black performers, but the fact that it does portray them in a variety of different contexts, many of which are positive, does go a long way toward strengthening their image.

But enough about that. I said I wouldn't post in here again, and yet I did, so I must now slink shamefully back into my cave.

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