The other day I went to the Vivid website to read their latest newsletter and I saw that they planned to release the Mindy McCready sex tape on April  19th. Didn’t I just read something about her? When I got home later that day, I went through all my old EW Magazines and I found the article. It was in the OCT 16 issue titled, Mindy McCready comes Clean. I re-read the article and I had to laugh. Let me start by giving you the run-down on Mindy McCready.

McCready suffered an epic collapse after her career took off 13 years ago. Five arrests. Two stints in jail. At least three suicide attempts. Burned bridges. Tabloid scandals. An abusive relationship with a man who once almost killed her — and who later fathered her now-3-year-old son, Zander (who her mother has custody of). If you know McCready at all today, it is probably as the woman who says she had a 10-year affair with baseball superstar Roger Clemens, or the woman accused of leaking the Eric Dane/Rebecca Gayheart naked video, or the woman who shared a house with Mackenzie Phillips, Heidi Fleiss, and Tom Sizemore for the upcoming third season of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab. (By: Whitney Pastorek | Oct 16, 2009 | EW Magazine)

Mindy is trying to play the sympathy card about her past. It’s the same story I have heard dozens of times. She was only 21 when she became a huge overnight success. She didn’t know how to handle such instant fame, she was young, she was naive, blah, blah, blah…Now she is older, more mature, has put her past behind her and has ‘grown up’ – think Drew Barrymore. But let me tell you, this is BULLSHIT. Her most recent arrest was only a year and half ago in September 2008. In December 2008 she attempted suicide, AGAIN. She wasn’t young anymore, or dealing with the stress of being so famous any longer. She is just plain messed up in the head. The EW article even pointed out this fact:

When discussing her legal troubles, McCready is equal parts repentant and full of excuses…She delivers a barrage of information, every word endowed with conviction. And even as you’re aware that some of it doesn’t ring entirely true, you really do want to believe her.

The article went on to say that she is trying to make a career comeback with her new CD “I’m Still Here”.

If you remember her music, you’ve probably written her off as a lost cause. Which means that if Mindy McCready is going to make a comeback, she’s going to have to start from square one.

How is any of what she is doing starting from square one? It’s more like trying to get her name in the press by any means possible so people will be curious enough to want to by her new CD. I have news for Miss McCready, the old saying, There’s no such thing as bad publicity, is NOT true – just ask Lindsay Lohan. Think of it this way, if Mindy was serious about her ‘comeback’ and wanted to show that she has grown-up and isn’t the crazy person she once was, it would go something like this: She went to re-hab and has been sober, 10, 7, 5 years, She regained custody of her son, she hasn’t been in trouble with the law in 10, 7, 5 years. But none of these things are the case. Instead she decides to go on VH1’sCelebrity Re-hab which aired in Jan and Feb of this year, went on the View on March 17th to discuss her ‘recovery’ and then releases her new album on March 23rd. Seriously? And I want to know what the hell her record label was thinking. I hope they didn’t invest a huge amount of money on her because I have a feeling that Mindy’s comeback is going to crash and burn quite quickly. Case in point, THE SEX TAPE. Think Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Paris’s exploits might have made Page 6 news but she didn’t become a household name until her sex tape was “leaked”. Then Kim Kardashian has her own sex tape and not 6 months later she signs a deal with E! to have her own reality show (Keeping up with the Kardashian’s). Now I can’t go by the newstands without seeing her on at least on Magazine cover. Is this what Mindy is thinking of?  Is this instant fame what she is trying to accomplish for her ‘comeback’.

As I said earlier, in the April 2nd Vivid Insider, Vivid announced the plans to releaseMindy McCready: Baseball Mistress on April 19th. McCreedy’s lawyer claims there will be an injunction provided to stop the release of the sex tape, however as of yet, there has been no lawsuit filed.

Shortly after the story of the video’s scheduled release appeared, McCready, through her lawyer, said she would try to stop its distribution and, according to some reports, was even denying it was she in the video. In the action-packed, nearly one-hour video the 34-year-old McCready gets it on with a boyfriend named Peter. Between scenes showing her having enthusiastic relations with Peter she talks at length about her past sexual conquests with former lovers Red Sox and Yankees pitching great Roger Clemens and actor Dean (Superman/Clark Kent) Cain.

This is where the story really gets good. Each new report I read on the story has Mindy claiming something different. News-Press.com reports that McCready said the video was stolen from her Nashville home three years ago, however she claims she only heard about the tape last Monday. Well did you know or didn’t you? Was a sex tape of yours stolen from you or did you just learn there was a sex tape of you on Monday.

“It has nothing to do with me,” said McCready. “I had nothing to do with this tape. And whoever releases it is going to get sued.”

Also, there is her mother’s claim that said her daughter told her about the stolen video more than a year ago — seeming to contradict McCready’s claims that she’d just learned about the video Monday.

“It’s definitely something she had no control over,” her mother said. “She tried to do everything she could to stop it (the release of the video).”

CBS News is reporting the lawyer’s claim that the company set to release the video, Vivid Entertainment, has absolutely zero proof that the woman in the sex tape is McCready, nor do they have any sort of authorization to release the video. Her Lawyer stated:

“We have formally requested that they provide proof of authorization, or refrain from using Ms. McCready’s likeness, period.”

Her likeness? Well if she made a sex tape and then it was stolen doesn’t that mean that it isn’t just her likeness but her period? I think Mindy’s lawyers need to stop pushing the claims that it isn’t Mindy and just go with the whole selling the tape without authorization standpoint. Look at Pam Anderson. She never denied it wasn’t her in the Pam and Tommy Sex tape, she just didn’t want it marketed without her permission and without benefiting from the sales herself.

On April 6th, Vivid Founder/Co-Chairman STEVEN HIRSCH released a press statement temporarily halting the release of the video.

“We’ve decided to take a little extra time to study all of our documentation and other clearances before we proceed. We want a chance to review the correspondence from MINDY’s attorney, ADAM DREAD, and to prepare a proper response to the letter he has sent to us.”

On April 7th McCready’s attorney sent a letter to Vivid thanking them for halting he video’s release.  Apparently he is now trying to resolve the issue with Vivid outside of court.

In effort to handle this without involving the court system, if you would be so kind, please provide to me the following…

Vivid’s website states it is still planning to release and distribute the video. Hirsch responded to the attorney’s letter on April 8th saying:

“We have no fear of the court system as we’ve operated within the law and we’ll provide him with the documentation that is necessary, when we’re ready, and not a minute before.”

When Vivid decides to go forward with the video’s release, I will let you know. I also want to know WHERE IS PETER? I can’t wait to hear the breaking news when the press discovers who he is.

If you think the world of pornography is all about sex, you’re only seeing half the picture. At the annual Adult Entertainment Expo trade show and the 2010 AVN Awards, the adult entertainment industry’s version of the Oscars — both held simultaneously in Las Vegas — the business side of porn is in plain view. The Adult Entertainment Expo is a business trade show and porn star-studded festival for fans showcasing the latest in high-tech sex toys and porn mainstays.

Fans are the multibillion-dollar industry’s lifeblood, but in a strange twist, they’re also part of its biggest problem.

“I don’t know how they make money,” said porn consumer Steve Curely. “I’m a cheap bastard. … Why pay when you don’t have to?”

Paul Fishbein, the publisher of Adult Video News, the industry’s largest trade publication, said his business is in trouble.

“The very technology that helped bring the business into the 21st century is also killing it,” he said. “It’s hard to sell to certain consumers when they can get stuff for free.”

It used to be that making money from new technology was the adult industry’s biggest advantage. From VHS and DVDs to the early days of the Internet and even mobile devices, pornographers have led the way in creating capital from new forms of distribution.

But being at the forefront of Internet profit-making has made the industry vulnerable to losses from Internet piracy.

“It’s a huge issue and it’s something that the entire industry is looking at — and not only the adult industry, but I think Hollywood is looking at it as well,” said Steve Hirsch, a top porn producer and founder of Vivid Entertainment.

Hirsch, who has helped make porn mainstream, used to worry about protecting his right to make adult films. Now, he worries about protecting himself from piracy.

“We have two full-time people — all they do is they’re out there on the Internet looking for pirated content,” he said. “When they find it, we send a notice, it comes down, then it goes back up and it’s sort of a cat-and-mouse game.”

Several people ABC News spoke to at the AVN Awards estimated their profits were down 25 percent as a result of piracy and a glut of free content.

“The adult business was the first to figure out how to make money on the Internet, before anybody else. What they didn’t foresee was the availability of all this free content,” Fishbein said. “You can only do so much policing and so much, you know, of the trying to prevent your material from being pirated and shared.”

But as an industry, how do you compete against free content?

“It’s very difficult,” Hirsch said. “Maybe the best way to fight free is with free, but as of now, the economics don’t make sense. You’re not able to get enough advertisers to come in where it would really make sense to give your content away, so the key is high quality content, exclusive stars. If you have that, you can sort of carve out a niche for yourself and people would come to your site.”

‘YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL IN SEX AND IN JOURNALISM’ SAYS VIVID CHIEF STEVEN HIRSCH

 
LOS ANGELES — (August 24, 2009) – Vivid Entertainment co-chairman Steven Hirsch said today that he was relieved that the Associated Press had distributed a correction to an erroneous story that falsely reported on the leading adult studio’s health safety record.  
 
“The Associated Press is one of the most highly regarded news gathering organizations in the world, but on August 20th the news agency failed to check its facts for a story with the headline ‘Porn Makers Challenged for not Mandating Condoms’ by Shaya Tayefe Mohajer,” Mr. Hirsch said. “Her story incorrectly stated that five performers in Vivid films tested positive for HIV in 2004. This erroneous statement was damaging to our company and demonstrates that you can never be too careful in sex and in journalism.  The truth is that throughout 2004 Vivid had a mandatory condom policy and every performer was, and is today, tested before he or she acts in one of our productions.  None of our performers had or has HIV. We are pleased that AP sent out a correction on Saturday, August 22nd and only wish they had done so immediately after we called the error to their attention rather than waiting more than 24 hours.”
 
Mr. Hirsch pointed out that since 2004 performers have acted in several hundred thousand-sex scenes shot by adult studios in the San Fernando Valley and there has only been one reported case of HIV. “It is far more dangerous for a person to have sex with someone they meet casually in a bar than it is for people who act in a carefully policed adult film setting. We are confident that we are taking all precautions and the results to date demonstrate that this is the case,” he said.

For more information, photos
or interviews contact:
jackie@vivid.com or 800-762-4761