Kim Dotcom's 'Megabox' promises free music while still paying artists

J.G. Vibes, Contributor

Since Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom had his house raided this past January he has been promising that his operation will be back and better than ever, even saying that the reincarnation of the site will effectively "put the dinosaur record industry out of business for good".

Just months before the shutdown of Megaupload, plans for this new service were released, but everyone assumed that it was over when the domains were seized last January. However, this week Dotcom released the video below on the making of the new service "Megabox". Megabox promises to provide free music to people while still paying the artists at the same time.



This service will be completely legal and cannot be considered pirating because all of the artists will be consenting and will be well compensated for their work. Their compensation will be provided by advertisements on the website, and they will be receiving 90% of the revenue, a much better deal than any record label gives today. 

If implemented correctly, this service can connect artists directly to their fans, cutting out the middle man entirely and revolutionizing the industry in favor of music consumer and music producer, but at the expense of the record companies.
With that being said it is very possible that Dotcom will follow through on his promise, as bold as it may be. Most of the information to come to light so far has been revealed in exclusive interviews that Kim Dotcom conducted with torrentfreak.com.

According to the interviews:

This revenue comes from the Megakey application that users have to install. Megakey works like an ad blocker, but instead of blocking ads it replaces a small percentage with Mega’s own ads. Those who prefer not to install the app have the option to buy the music instead. 

'Music will be free for users who install the Megakey App. Anyone who does not like the App can just purchase the music,' Dotcom told TorrentFreak previously. Most of the revenue generated will go directly to the artists with Megabox keeping a small share. This fraction pales in comparison to the amounts held back by the major labels. 

'These new solutions will allow content creators to keep 90% of all earnings and generate significant income from the untapped market of free downloads,' Dotcom said. In the weeks to come Kim Dotcom and his team are hoping to get Megabox ready for a public release, with or without 'The Black Keys,' 'Rusko,' 'Two Fingers' and 'Will.i.am' as exclusive artists. In addition, Megaupload is also expected to return before the end of 2012.

The release of both of these projects will be coming in the fallout of the raid earlier this year. U.S. authorities are currently appealing a New Zealand court decision that Dotcom should be allowed to see the evidence on which the extradition hearing will be based. It seems only fair that he should have the right to face his accusers and see the evidence that they have against him. The extradition hearing has been delayed until March 2013.

Dotcom has also been fighting back legally, accusing the record industry of lobbying the government for his arrest, illegal spying and wiretapping and other charges of police misconduct. In New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and the Inspector-General of Security and Intelligence, Justice Paul Neazor,have both acknowledged the spying on Mr Dotcom. Yesterday, Mr Meurant said he believed charges should be laid over the GCSB's actions. However, that would not happen, he said. A long-standing police culture of avoiding court scrutiny over serious matters had now become entrenched in other agencies, including the GCSB.

If you have any questions or disagreements feel free to email me at jgvibes@aotmr.com

J.G. Vibes is the author of an 87 chapter counter culture textbook called Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance and host of a show called Voluntary Hippie Radio. He is also an artist with an established record label and event promotion company that hosts politically charged electronic dance music events. You can keep up with his work, which includes free podcasts, free e-books & free audiobooks at his website www.aotmr.com .

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