Kim Dotcom teases details of music service Megabox with preview video | Hacker News Reader

Kim Dotcom teases details of music service Megabox with preview video

thenextweb.com

58 pointspotomak21 comments

The business model is that it'll have users install software that replaces 15% of third party ads on web pages with their own ads. This sort of ad replacement has actually been done plenty of times before: by malware and by shady toolbars. Pretty much no one is going to be okay with this. The music industry and the US government hate the guy's guts; it's directly stealing money from Google; it wants to directly compete with iTunes; it's directly stealing money from every random blogger and press outlet that might cover it; and other companies doing exactly this was responsible for destroying Microsoft Windows' reputation in the eyes of consumers. Oh, and it's a backdoor held by someone considered wildly untrustworthy. So on the list of parties that have a vested interest in seeing it fail, we have:

    - The music industry  
    - The US government  
    - All ad-supported press outlets and blogs  
    - Microsoft, Apple, and Google  
    - The computer security industry

Oh, and it's also probably illegal (under copyright and tortious interference grounds). I think this is really just a signaling ploy; Dotcom wants to be able to say that he tried to come up with a monetization model for the music industry. But to say that this is doomed a fairly significant understatement.

It will add another layer to the internet tug of war on advertising.

Hulu and other ad-dependent sites already detect ad-block and won't give you content unless you disable it. I see media providers doing the same to protect their interests.

The question is - will enough sites quash this ad-replacement service from the get go to prevent a large userbase from forming?

Nobody will be okay with that? You're joking right?

Every person out there who aren't technical, won't give a shit. Free music? They'll do anything.

I bet these people will think, "It replaces advertisements that I don't even see anymore because I'm so used to them? Well okay!"

Is "free music" really a selling point anymore?

Between grooveshark, youtube, a dozen "youtube frontends" and a dozen streaming services that will fill you up for $10/month it seems very much like a strawman.

"revealed his team is 90 percent done with the coding for the relaunch of Megaupload"

Great - only 90% of work left now ;)

Logarithmic, eh?

"The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time." - Tom Cargill

I like this guy. I am hopeful that this is successful in establishing a de-facto model that directly supports artists. I'm even more hopeful that if successful, that this will eliminate the need for major record labels to own all copyright and necessarily lead to the elimination of the RIAA and its oppressive actions.

Seconded. I also can't help but cheer for the guy because, after what happened, this would be the biggest middle finger possible in the direction of the US DoJ and their toadying about for the MafiAA.

He might be a bit sleazy, but I don't care. Go Kim!

Oh, he is a lot sleazy, trust me. Even so, in this fight he is the right sleazy for me, and no amount of sleazy excuses bad legal-work. I wish him only the best.

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 explains.

Yeah, seems real noble.

https://torrentfreak.com/top-artists-line-up-for-kim-dotcoms...

Seems like a monetized CatBlock that you can choose to use in lieu of buying your music normally. Can't say I see a problem with that. Ad injection without the additional blocking has been subsidizing free wifi for years now.

I think a lot of people are excited about the progress against the RIAA and actually building services FOR artists. I'm just concerned that this isn't it...will artists rally behind Megabox, especially with Kim's reputation, legal issues, and the very obvious scrutiny that this site will face from world governments? It'd take some serious convincing for me to store my audio there, unsure of its security or longevity.

I don't know that the trust is there, although I do like the idea in principle.

I am honestly pretty excited to see what comes of this. I'm more than fine installing an application to subsidise the music on the site. I am also a big fan of Dotcom giving artists 90% of the profits from the site, it will be interesting to see what feathers are ruffled by this and if it succeeds.

For those of you who are Portuguese, check the video at 0:07. "Linguagem C" by Luís Damas is the C programming book we all studied ;)

Not the greatest of books, but indeed a classic among students here!

How did he get the funding for this one? Who's gonna run it if he gets jail time...not that it's looking very likely?

He's stated that he has investors lined up [1].

[1] http://mashable.com/2012/09/24/kim-dotcom-megaupload-almost-...

"It's like Grooveshark but monetized."

Ads in the right sidebar, but also in the left sidebar!

Sounds fair. Download ad replacement software to look at Grooveshark.

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