Mail-Maniac

Mail-Maniac

Daniels, 29, said people have less money but don't want to compromise their viewing habits, and even people who previously held out to avoid supporting Internet piracy are finding it harder to justify spending for content.

"They just don't have any money, they have no choice but to download it," she said.

The industry has been poking fun at its economic predicament the past week. Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild chief executive Joe Francis called for a $5 billion federal bailout, saying Americans are turning to entertainment for a little relief. At the AVN Adult Movie Awards on Saturday, a video mashup speculated how porn stars would fare in front of Congress if it considered helping the industry.

In asking for money, Flynt and Francis said adult DVD sales and rentals have decreased 22 percent during the past year.

But Lynn Comella, a professor in the women's studies department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who studies the industry, said certain segments of the industry are doing well, including retail novelty sellers that cater to women.

Comella said these businesses are having to work harder than ever before to maintain sales, but are still finding customers willing to spend $150 to $200 on high end sex toys.

The sense within the industry is that companies will have to focus on quality -- not quantity -- to survive in a bad economy, Comella said.

"The recession might force the cream of the crop to rise to the top. There's some people who believe that a cleaning out of the market might be a good thing for the industry," Comella said. "2009 might not be all that bad, but it's going to bring the issue of quality to the foreground."

Karen Stagliano, a publicist for production company Evil Angel and the wife of its owner, said it has tried to avoid oversaturating its customers with videos by limiting its 14 directors to one video each per month.

"We are being as smart as we can," she said.

Kim Kysar, brand and product manager for Pink Visual Productions, said she's getting an increasing volume of calls from producers and actresses looking for more work.

"It's just hurting all elements," Kysar said.

Daniels, who began her career as a stripper, said that many women who act in pornographic films are spending more time making personal appearances at strip clubs to make extra cash.

She said that Internet piracy means more people know who she is than ever before and come to her personal appearances, but a bad economy means she's not making more money as a result.

"They're spending less money per person but there's more people," she said. "I'm fortunate in that I end up kind of breaking even."