Ugh, you know I hate to agree with you ...
But damn, you're right here man.
The people you're talking about... some of them got picked up by MAJOR adult companies because it LOOKED like they really knew what they were doing. But, it was really right place at the right time. They had connections, lots of friends, sway in industry circles... precisely because of that money they made early on when it was easy.
And yup, not easy anymore. It takes work and patience, and more importantly, more money than ever before to stay in the game long enough, and produce something good enough, to start turning good profits.
Here's the thing though... I think we're kind of in a transition stage right now in the sense that companies are adjusting. Which ones will adjust in time, or adjust in relevant ways, we'll see.
One of the most important things we can do right now as an industry, IMHO, is stop screwing over the paying consumers. I credit Tom Hymes for putting this thought in my head: It's just insane for companies to find people who are STILL willing to pay for adult services, and then screw them. Charge them for stuff they didn't want, double bill, place all kinds of traps in the fine print. Wall Street can get away with that kind of behavior because they hold serious leverage over their customers. We have no such leverage and, in fact, customers have leverage over US. It needs to be about finding out what the real adult fans are looking for, and giving it to them -- and going above and beyond in the process.
That's not cheap to do... so we'll see how many companies can do that. Like I said, we're in transition, we'll know more in a year, maybe two.