Ultimate Chart (a/o May 20th):
Updated: MegaUpload is now suing Universal Music Group over DMCA abuse, while UMG is pointing to a breach involving at least one of its artists. More details here, this is the original article from Friday.
These artists aren't just supporting MegaUpload, they're literally singing its praises in a new advertisement. That is, despite very overt efforts by majors labels to clamp down on the cyberlocker giant on grounds of infringement. That includes lobbying to get governments to shut MegaUpload down altogether, and have it placed on international blacklists.
But blacklisting MegaUpload on the grounds of piracy seems difficult when artists like Diddy, will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Game, Chris Brown, Macy Gray, and Snoop Dogg are now its biggest and most visible champions. After all, these are the biggest products the majors have to offer, yet they are now blatantly assuming the opposite of the RIAA party line.
Here's the marquee spot, though MegaUpload is also showcasing a collection of endorsement clips on their site. That includes a nod from Russell Simmons.
Universal Music Group has been attempting to pull the clip from YouTube based on copyright claims. In response, MegaUpload founder Kim Schmitz says that the song was independently commissioned, and no UMG content was used in the creation of the spot. It remains unclear whether these artists have stepped outside of their label agreements, however.
Regardless, this all seems to boil down to who's paying artists, and who's paying them well. MegaUpload most likely shelled out handsomely to create this spot, no questions or shady calculations involved. By contrast, major labels have historically been focused on lowering artist payments, or even outright stiffing them. That's a story that Spotify is eager to distance itself from, yet the company has paid enormous sums to major labels for licensing rights with very little trickling back to the artists themselves.
See the problem here?
Visitor Friday, December 09, 2011
They took a onetime check while sending a message to their listeners that file sharing is cool. These are not big touring acts, their revenue is not generated on the road. Greedy and pathetic.
James Saturday, December 10, 2011
Agreed. These people are the very definition of "selling out".
YES Sunday, December 11, 2011
Absolutely.
Visitor Monday, December 12, 2011
BWA-HAHAHAAA!!!! The ARTISTS are greedy? The ARTISTS are selling out?!
Every single person who posts here in defense of the music industry instead of the expansion of art is a SELLOUT. Which will be just about everyone who posts to this page.
Keep your self-righteousness to yourself, it's incredibly unflattering.
Visitor Friday, December 09, 2011
this clip has 302 views on YouTube... I hope paul fact checked it... check out the users other uploads, I'm sure they Official too though it seems unlikely...
http://www.youtube.com/user/AnikazeOficial
http://www.anikaze.net
why megaupload would choose an anime freak with bad taste to launch a massive promo is really questionable...
this seem a lot like the ron paul bad lip sync vid on funny or die...
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/0a03ebddbb/ron-paul-a-bad-lip-reading-soundbite
alden Friday, December 09, 2011
looks totally legit.
just check out http://megaupload.com/ it's got the same stuff plus other spots from all the same artists
Nasa Friday, December 09, 2011
Yes, because it's very easy to catch this many high-level celebrities casually saying "I LOVE MEGAUPLOAD". Total hoax. Idiot.
JacksonL Friday, December 09, 2011
What Russell SIMMONS in this too?
Thanks for uploading.
wallow-T Friday, December 09, 2011
I keep repeating myself: The Internet and the personal computer are a toolkit. MegaUpload is a tool, a way to get things done, a platform to get a large file from A to B. It seems quite likely that, while the musicians in this ad got paid, they are also happy customers of the MegaUpload tool for transferring drafts of recordings-in-progress.
A 20-something nephew recently instructed me to use MegaUpload to send him the digital photos from the Thanksgiving family gathering.
wallow-T Friday, December 09, 2011
I just realized that this MegaUpload promotional video also illustrates a vast, age-based cultural divide on the subject of the free exchange of files, whatever those files may be.
Joseph Lindholm Friday, December 09, 2011
It would have been nice to have been able to READ about this, as opposed to look at shitty videos, which I have no intention of watching. I will leave "watching videos" for those among us who are, as an example, avid television watchers. I prefer to read.
Well I am sure that I will be able to find out what lies behind all of this on other sites, so I guess it really won't be a problem.
Chris Ruen Friday, December 09, 2011
Paul,
This is blogworthy, no doubt. But don't you think it wise to wait for the details on the nature of these "endorsements" to come out before drawing conclusions, or insinuating that a company that deals in mass exploitation like MegaUpload is better for artists than Spotify, which has at least set a digital precedent for respecting the rights of artists/labels?
paul Friday, December 09, 2011
@Chris
This was independently commissioned by MegaUpload, according to founder Kim Schmidtz. Also, take a peek at all the clips on megaupload.com if you have a moment.
/paul
Chris Ruen Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Hey Paul,
Had seen those clips, yeah. They are not "literally" singing Mega's praises, and the generic endorsements tellingly stop at the sending of "files." I see this as a cynical (if admittedly well-calculated) PR ploy by an incredibly exploitative company, that has used the ignorance/greed of the involved artists for their own purposes. So, good for Megaupload...I guess. But, the big difference between Megaupload and Spotify -- Spotify actually respects artists choices to NOT participate in their model. It is licensed. It respects the rule of law and copyright. It establishes a sanctioned market for digital music (even if it may be destined to fail). I agree that it would be nice if payouts were larger, but that seems to be a cause for encouraging consumers to PAY for their music direct or build more transparent royalty structures, rather than to play into the hand of Kim S, who is distracting the public from the real issue of artists' legal rights as he tramples upon them for his own profit.
CjR
MisterSoftee Friday, December 09, 2011
Want to know what the future is?
GETTING PAID right now whoever is writing the check,. Who knows what the shelf life on any of these artists are.
I'm not the one to be waiting around for the major label to pay the 8 cents on a download.
Be smart. Dont wait for "the future" because you'll be BROKE by the time that arrives!!
Thank you.
Get your facts straight. Sunday, December 11, 2011
Eh...that would be the present - and just for some people out there - not the future for everyone.
Ever heard of something called "long tail"?
Artists my ass Saturday, December 10, 2011
"Some of the biggest artists in the world are now supporting MegaUpload"
Those are not some of the biggest artists in the world. Those are some of the most known PR products in the world. These two are separated by some million light years.
If you confuse artistry with PR you are just a moron who has never learned how to use his/her ears.
Daniel Saturday, December 10, 2011
Who the fuck cares what a "celebrity" says?
There is no self respected musician in the world who would take any of these personas seriously.
ECM's worst demo tape is a diamond compared to these fuckers' excuses of singing.
Visitor Monday, December 12, 2011
lol, cosign
@Spartz Saturday, December 10, 2011
Bas Grasmayer
$$$
lmnop Saturday, December 10, 2011
Stats on MegaUpload
Founded in 2005
Employees - 155
Unique Visitors - >50m daily
4% of all internet traffic passes through Megaupload
Unique files stored - >12bn
Registered users - >180m
Corporate Memebership - 87% of the Fortune 500 have accounts with Mega
Source: Megaupload, retrieved 10th September 2011
how silly Sunday, December 11, 2011
Well, no wonder there are pre-release leaks, if these morons and their teams actually use MegaUpload.
They waste thousands of $ for coke, but they can't be bothered to set up a server and exchange files securely and with confidentiality?
Oh they are really bright. Pure geniuses. All of them.
David_Allan Monday, December 12, 2011
steveh Monday, December 12, 2011
Artists, don't blame streaming services (spotify, rdio, rhapsody, etc.), blame the labels. They are the ones not paying you and keeping the money!!
We have to say this time and time again:- the chief complainers against Spotify are INDIE LABELS and ARTIST OWNED LABELS!
How can we not be paying ourselves? The smaller labels see the full income statements from Spotify. The income is very very low!!
We are completely right to blame the streaming services 100%.
Whatever secret non-diclosure deals they did with he majors were part of the process the streaming services paid in order to become "legal".
These are tech companies that are trying to construct their business by woefully exploiting our music.
This is NOT what the internet digital revolution was supposed to be about. Part of the original dream was empowerment of smaller artists and the levelling of the playing field between small labels and the majors. Spotify is helping the smaller labels get screwed.
amayer_ Monday, December 12, 2011
Austin Mayer
Two reasons: Free & Easy.
laszlo szell Tuesday, December 13, 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz
Visitor Tuesday, December 13, 2011
These idiots should be using wetransfer.com anyhow.
fool
Stupidity Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Why would any reasonable person use a third party to transfer sensitive files over the internet?
I guess deals with mafia people are more important these days than teaching yourself (or hire a computer tech to teach you) how to use FTP and encryption software.
But, no, then you won't have enough time to update your Facebook/Twitter/etc...!!!!
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