MegaUpload’s Megabox Might Launch After All

With the case against MegaUpload and its founder Kim Dotcom on increasingly shaky ground, it looks like MegaUpload may be back sooner than you think. This includes its previously upcoming Megabox music service, which was destroyed by the FBI during the MegaUpload raid back in January while it was still under beta testing.

Despite the destruction of his business, Dotcom told TorrentFreak in June that the Megabox project was still making progress, “You can expect several Megabox announcements [in 2012] including exclusive deals with artists who are eager to depart from outdated business models.” He has now tweeted the message below, making it almost certain that the Megakey service would be coming this year, despite the USA going nuclear on his business:

It’s looked from the beginning that the real reason why MegaUpload was shut down was because Dotcom was about to launch a new business model (Megabox) that was highly disruptive to the old guard recording industries such as EMI and Universal Music Group (UMG), fronted by their RIAA “trade organization” which has its claws deeply embedded into the US government. This quote from Dotcom in a guest post on TorrentFreak back on December 18, 2011, just a month before the raid makes this all too apparent:

“UMG knows that we are going to compete with them via our own music venture called Megabox.com, a site that will soon allow artists to sell their creations direct to consumers and allowing artists to keep 90% of earnings.

We have a solution called the Megakey that will allow artists to earn income from users who download music for free. Yes that’s right, we will pay artists even for free downloads. The Megakey business model has been tested with over a million users and it works. You can expect several Megabox announcements next year including exclusive deals with artists who are eager to depart from outdated business models.”