Sep 26 AT 1:29 PM Taylor Wimberly 21 Comments

Kim Dotcom teases the Android app that will put the major music labels out of business

Megaupload was one of the largest sites on the Internet at its peak with over 50 million visitors per day. Then the US Government took down the site on charges of criminal copyright infringement and arrested its founder Kim Dotcom. A month later he was released from jail and started working on his next project Megabox.

The new service will focus on music sharing and Kim Dotcom promises he is going to “Turn this world upside down.” On Twitter he said that Megabox will be “Bigger. Better. Faster. Free of charge & shielded from attacks.”

Once again the government stepped in and seized the Megabox domain as part of their criminal case against Megaupload, but Dotcom says the new service is not dead.

Today Mr. Dotcom uploaded a new teaser video to YouTube with the message, “This is what they don’t want you to have. Unchaining artists and fans. Megabox is coming soon.” The two minute clip reveals that Megabox has already signed up some exclusive artists including The Black Keys, Rusko, Two Fingers and Will.i.am.

We still don’t know exactly when Megabox will launch, but it is scheduled to arrive before the end of 2012. When it finally gets here it will be available on the web, Android, iPhone, and iPad.

Based on Dotcom’s legal history and his plan to put the “dinosaur record labels” out of business, we can’t see this Android app getting approved on the Google Play store. Stranger things have happened, so we will keep our eye on Megabox and report back when it finally launches.

Via: TorrentFreak

Source: MrKimDotcom

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21 Comments Join the discussion!

88 Shay D. Life 09/26/12 1:43 PM

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Not sure how I feel about this. Seems like after the iOS vs Android piracy debacle, this would be the last thing that “anyone” would want to get involved with.

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NabbuGuest 09/26/12 1:49 PM

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I’d definitely join in on this. The music/movie industries need to go down and bring back free market entrepreneurs. I can only dream that one day the usa will have a u.s. dollar that actually has gold value behind it and the credit/bank industry burns to the ground.

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72 J3R3MY_H 09/26/12 1:58 PM

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Where can i get one of those Android lego figures?

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- 89 inviolable 09/26/12 4:37 PM
  
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  At a Lego store. Some assembly required.
  
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- Tom MGuest 09/27/12 6:00 AM
  
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  Have a look at this!
  
  http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/22758
  
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ArianJMGuest 09/26/12 2:25 PM

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I just hope it’s worldwide from day 1

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22 kinderdm 09/26/12 2:27 PM

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“Based on Dotcom’s legal history and his plan to put the “dinosaur record labels” out of business, we can’t see this Android app getting approved on the Google Play store.” So the makers background and personal views are now subject to store approval? If its done legally then there is no reason it shouldn’t rightfully go through. I cant say I care about this service at all but fair is fair and I hate to see anyone get discriminated against, no matter who they are.

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- 100 Taylor Wimberly 09/26/12 4:16 PM
  
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  This new service is claiming to be legal, but I don’t know how Google will see it. They keep kicking Grooveshark out of the Google Play store for example.
  
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  - 22 kinderdm 09/27/12 2:49 PM
    
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    Good point with Grooveshark. I guess maybe if the legality is in question enough then that’s enough for Google. I still don’t think its necessarily morally right, but Google does own the store, so I guess they can choose to sell (or not sell) what they want.
    
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56 virexed 09/26/12 2:40 PM

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How is this different from Spotify?

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- 96 Homncruse 09/26/12 4:10 PM
  
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  With Spotify, the artists get paid a pitiful amount (read: almost nothing) for your listen, and if I recall correctly, to be listed at *all* requires you to have a label backing you (even if it’s a pseudo-label like CDBaby). If I had to guess, I’d imagine that Megabox removes that middleman and pays the artist directly. There will likely be arguments between artists and labels, of course, but that’s outside the scope of this issue.
  
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  - 23 Cwalden21 09/26/12 5:04 PM
    
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    Yeah seems to be the same thing as Spotify, but if Homncruse is right and Megabox would pay the artists directly..I’m all aboard and it sounds like a great idea.
    
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    - 96 Homncruse 09/26/12 5:16 PM
      
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      Keep in mind I’m completely guessing. I’ve not heard of the service until this blog post.
      
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98 Nathan D. 09/26/12 3:58 PM

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Cool android Lego figure :-)

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10 sknoslo 09/26/12 6:17 PM

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I was just thinking about a service like this. Cut out the middle man (scumbag record labels) and let artists sell their own music just like an App Store. Artists would love it once people really started using it because they could make so much more money and put out the music they actually want to put out. And as an added bonus all the record labels and record label executives would go extinct. Next up, the movie industry…

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27 rfvgyhn 09/26/12 7:13 PM

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Note that to listen to the music for free, one has to install megakey (injects ads into your browser replacing site hosted ads). Content creators getting 90% of all earnings is pretty cool though.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/09/kim-dotcoms-megabox-music-service-or-malware

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50 teecruz 09/26/12 7:16 PM

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To be honest, this doesn’t seem at all harmful. the fact it’s a file sharing system is what troubles it..
But if you ask me, this seems like a new solution to social network (media), meets cloud, meets file sharing.

can be done.. LEGALLY.

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34 classic_hero 09/26/12 8:15 PM

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OH! Yup, I saw a chick at the end :)

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JoshuaGuest 09/26/12 9:17 PM

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Makes me laugh when people are saying “cut out the middleman”. Uh, they aren’t cutting out the middleman, just replacing him with this, lmao!!! IF they wanted to cut out the middleman they would be selling it on their own artist website. Why are artists not relying on sales straight from their website? Because the record labels have connections, producers, equipment, distribution, all the outlets needed to make money. I don’t see this taking off at all…record labels are still a necessary evil.

I also thought it was funny that in the video snippets there was one with the word “usefull” completely spelled incorrectly.

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- Himmat Singh.Guest 09/27/12 8:46 AM
  
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  Dude, now you have digital stores (like iTunes, Amazon, Google Play) > record labels (aka the middlemen!) > artistes.
  
  Record labels suck the shit out of artists incomes. The artists become their slaves as well in the process. With Megabox, no middleman. Megabox becomes sort of a digital store. Income direct to artists pockets. What this will mean is probably cheaper albums since no more middleman.
  
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78 thechad 12/23/12 1:03 AM

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Wonder when this will launch

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