Kim Dotcom hits out after former MegaUpload colleagues plead guilty to running criminal enterprise
MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom has been extra busy this week criticising his former colleagues and the second cloud storage company they created together, as well prosecutors and the courts in New Zealand. The flurry of critical tweets followed the news that Dotcom's MegaUpload co-founders Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk had pleaded guilty to various charges in relation to their time running the defunct file-transfer platform.

Dotcom, Ortmann and van der Kolk have all spent the last ten years fighting extradition from New Zealand to the US ever since the American authorities shutdown MegaUpload, which was accused of facilitating and profiting from rampant copyright infringement. The US authorities wanted all three men - and a fourth New Zealand-based ex-MegaUpload exec, Finn Batato - to face various criminal charges in the States.

The extradition case against the former MegaUpload execs dragged on for years, with the four defendants arguing that the extradition treaty between the US and New Zealand didn't cover things like copyright infringement.

But prosecutors basically argued that so rampant and deliberate was the copyright infringement on the MegaUpload platform that the company was conspiring to defraud the music and movie industries, and fraud allegations warrant extradition.

The New Zealand courts ultimately decided there were grounds for extradition, although actually extraditing Dotcom et al also requires the approval of the country's justice minister, and that approval is still pending.

Then last month it was announced that Ortmann and van der Kolk had reached a deal with US prosecutors which meant they would no longer face extradition.

Instead they would be charged in New Zealand with crimes relating to their involvement in MegaUpload. Those charges include that Ortmann and van der Kolk participated in a criminal group and conspired to cause loss by deception. And earlier this week the two men pleaded guilty to those crimes.

According to Stuff, the two men said following their guilty plea: "There's no point in dwelling on these proceedings any longer and [we are] putting it behind us and accepting our responsibility".

Alluding to their post-MegaUpload projects like cloud storage company Mega, van der Kolk added: "We are very proud of what we've built, and we are very much looking forward to continue to build. We want to focus on productive things and do great things for society and learn from our mistakes".

Outlining the case against the former MegaUpload chiefs, a 'summary of facts' prepared by the New Zealand Police and made available this week states that - in 2005 - Dotcom, Ortmann and van der Kolk agreed to develop an online service to compete with another file-transfer platform, Rapidshare, which, it says, "they knew made money from large-scale copyright infringement - they intended to emulate Rapidshare in this respect".

Once MegaUpload was up and running, the document goes on, the objectives of the company included encouraging the uploading, and then hosting and distributing, of digital files which "overwhelmingly embodied copyright protected works"; disguising the volume of copyright infringing files on the platform and deliberately frustrating the efforts of copyright owners to stop the distribution of those files; and selling advertising and subscriptions to monetise the copyright infringement the company enabled.

The MegaUpload chiefs, the document says, "knew and accepted that copyright infringement was the primary source of MegaUpload's traffic, the primary source of MegaUpload's income, and the reason the business grew to the size it did", and that that infringement caused "the rights of copyright owners to be breached on a mass scale".

Of course, the MegaUpload team previously insisted - and in Dotcom's case, he still insists - that MegaUpload was a legitimate file-transfer and video-sharing platform - no different to Dropbox and YouTube - and that while there was copyright infringing content stored on the platform, the company was protected by the copyright safe harbour. The argument goes that if MegaUpload was liable for copyright infringement, so should be Dropbox and YouTube.

But not so, the 'summary of facts' says. "The defendants intended that MegaUpload would present an appearance of legitimacy and compliance with copyright legislation while making money from deliberate and systematic infringements of copyright".

"This involved", it goes on, "grooming the appearance of the sites so that the group's reliance on copyright infringing content was concealed (which Mr Ortmann termed the 'innocent front end'), while the great bulk of the traffic would be by 'private back end' access, via URLs circulated on the internet (and, in particular, indexed on third party linking sites)".

Not only that, but "rather than identifying and sanctioning individuals who repeatedly infringed copyrights by their use of the [MegaUpload] sites, or terminating the accounts of those individuals, the defendants created a scheme which incentivised users to upload popular files and videos. They knew that, overwhelmingly, the uploaded content they attracted in this manner comprised of infringing copies of copyright-protected works".

The document also states that Dotcom "controlled all aspects of MegaUpload's operations", "closely monitored and directed the administration of the entire business" and "took most of MegaUpload's income for himself".

However, not only were Ortmann and van der Kolk aware that their business was built on rampant copyright infringement, they helped make it happen. The document adds: "The defendants' technical knowledge was indispensable to the creation and growth of MegaUpload".

"Mr Dotcom ultimately determined matters of policy and direction but lacked the practical expertise to carry his wishes to effect", it goes on. "He relied on the defendants to set up and run the technical infrastructure of MegaUpload. The offending would not have been possible without their involvement".

American prosecutors are obviously hoping that Ortmann and van der Kolk pleading guilty to charges in New Zealand strengthens their case in the US against Dotcom.

They aren't the first former MegaUpload execs to plead guilty to charges relating to their involvement in running the file-transfer business. Europe-based Andrus Nomm did that in 2015 and spent a year in jail in the US as a result. However, Ortmann and van der Kolk were much more central to the operations of MegaUpload.

When they both announced last month that they'd reached a deal with prosecutors to avoid extradition, Dotcom said on Twitter: "I want to congratulate my former friends and partners to have found a case resolution. They can avoid the terrible US justice system. I'm happy for them. After ten years of US lawfare I understand why they have given up. I don't blame them and I sincerely wish them all the best".

However, this week Dotcom was somewhat less conciliatory to his former colleagues. Although in the main his tweeted criticisms of Ortmann and van der Kolk were less directly about their guilty pleas over MegaUpload and more about the operations of Mega, that second cloud storage business the three men launched, but which Dotcom relatively quickly stepped away from.

Dotcom tweeted a link to an Ars Technica article about a new report that disputes Mega's long-standing claim that its end-to-end encryption is so good, even Mega itself can't decrypt data that is stored on its platform.

Ars Technica's article notes how the authors of this new report "say that the architecture Mega uses to encrypt files is riddled with fundamental cryptography flaws that make it trivial for anyone with control of the platform to perform a full key recovery attack on users once they have logged in a sufficient number of times".

Alongside the Ars Technica article, Dotcom alluded to previous allegations he has made about a Chinese investor in Mega. "Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk have stolen Mega from me to benefit a convicted Chinese criminal who was able to make a plea deal in China after he took control of Mega", he tweeted. "Why did the Chinese government make a deal with Bill Liu who sold fake cancer medication that killed hundreds?"

Then more directly referencing this week's MegaUpload developments, he added: "Because Bram and Mathias created backdoors for the Chinese government so that all Mega files can be decrypted by them. Same shady guys who just made a deal with the US and NZ Govt to get out of the US extradition case by falsely accusing me. Delete your Mega account. It's not safe".

Then yesterday Dotcom returned to Twitter to talk about the aforementioned summary of facts. He wrote: "Another bizarre development in my case. The High Court released to my legal team a one-sided and unchallenged statement of facts by the prosecution with strict non-publication orders to preserve the rights of all parties and then allows the media to publish it in full".

"Based on current High Court orders we don't have the right to challenge the false allegations that are now in the public domain", he added. "This is just one of many examples of double-standard and unfairness in my case. My lawyers are now asking the court to lift the non-publication order".

He then concluded: "We would like to respond and we have a lot to say about what the law permits when it comes to copyright infringement. The allegations remain baseless window-dressing. My co-defendants who claimed to be innocent for ten plus years were offered a sweet exit deal for a false confession".

Also yesterday, Dotcom posted a tweet about what he has heard regarding the sentences that will stem from Ortmann and van der Kolk's guilty pleas.

In theory the two men could be facing ten years in jail in relation to the crimes to which they have pleaded guilty. However, Dotcom wrote: "It's my understanding that my co-defendants expect to get two years of home detention in exchange for false confessions".

It remains to be seen if that is indeed the deal Ortmann and van der Kolk have done on sentencing - and also how the case against Dotcom, as the one remaining MegaUpload defendant still facing extradition, now proceeds.

The fourth New Zealand-based former MegaUpload exec who was also fighting extradition, marketing man Finn Batato, was dropped from the criminal case last year when it emerged he had life-threatening cancer. He died earlier this month.

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32,254 counterfeit CDs seized in raid on Merseyside piracy operation
With the sale of physical discs still accounting for about a fifth of the UK record industry's revenues, I guess there's still money to be made from good old fashioned CD piracy, even if it all feels a bit old school. Which is why the City Of London Police's Intellectual Property Crime Unit - aka PIPCU - has taken action against a bootleg CD operation based out of Merseyside.

PIPCU yesterday confirmed that it had seized 32,254 counterfeit CDs "worth an estimated loss to the industry of £169,708" after raiding three properties on The Wirral on Tuesday, two commercial premises and one residential. The CDs were being sold on Amazon, and it was the anti-piracy team at the online retailer, as well as record industry trade group BPI, which reported the counterfeit CD operation to the specialist IP crime unit.

Says PIPCU's Andy Cope:"Counterfeit CDs can have a damaging effect on legitimate businesses and cause substantial losses to artists and the music industry. It is also important for the public to remember that sales from counterfeit goods can fund other forms of criminal activity, such as modern-day slavery and drug dealing".

"This operation should send a strong warning that the sale of counterfeit goods will not be tolerated", he added. "It also shows the effectiveness of partnership working in tackling intellectual property crime, and I'd like to thank Amazon, the BPI and the North West Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit for their support".

Meanwhile, Kebharu Smith, Director of Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit, adds: "Amazon will keep investing and innovating to stay ahead of counterfeiters so that customers can shop with confidence in our store. We will also continue working with trade organisations and law enforcement - as we have done here successfully with the BPI and PIPCU - to hold bad actors accountable. We don't just want to chase them away from Amazon - we want to stop them for good".

And the BPI's Head Of Content Protection, Paola Monaldi, says: "The BPI welcomes the warrants carried out by PIPCU. Music fans love genuine CDs and vinyl - they are an important way for people to enjoy and gift music, and for creators to benefit. Genuine physical formats account for over 20% of industry revenues from all purchased and streamed music. But creators don't receive a penny from counterfeits because the money goes to criminals".

"That's why the BPI continues to take action to protect consumers from fake CDs and to work closely with the police and in partnership with online marketplaces like Amazon", she goes on. "We look forward to the next phase of this investigation, and to continuing our other work to reduce physical infringement in the UK".

One man was arrested during this week's raids and has since been released pending investigation.

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Anti-piracy action in Brazil targets hundreds of websites and apps
Law enforcement agencies in Brazil have blocked or seized the domains of hundreds of websites and apps accused of utilising and/or distributing unlicensed music in a coordinated action as part of an on-going anti-piracy initiative called Operation 404.

226 websites and 461 apps were targeted in the action, which was supported by local music industry trade group Pro-Música Brasil and the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, and which saw Brazilian police and the country's Ministry Of Justice liaising with cyber and IP crime experts in both the US and the UK.

The high number of apps targeted is particularly interesting, given apps that use music without licence are becoming a top piracy gripe for the music industry.

Commenting on the operation, IFPI's Director Of Global Content Protection And Enforcement Melissa Morgia says: "As a result of the coordinated work of the Brazilian authorities, together with agencies in the US and the UK, these actions have seen the highest number of unlicensed music services disrupted as part of the Operation 404 campaign. We thank and commend all the authorities and agencies involved in carrying out these actions for their ongoing collaboration and support in protecting music creators' content".

Meanwhile, Pro-Música Brasil Director Paulo Rosa adds: "This operation has had a particular impact on the growing problem of unlicensed music apps - sending a clear message to all operators of such services that they must cease their activities. These services are profiting from music whilst putting in jeopardy the growth of Brazil's vibrant and diverse music ecosystem. We continue to support action against this, wherever necessary".

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Spotify revamps gig listings, piloting new community feature
Spotify yesterday announced a revamp to the way it plugs gigs and shows within its app, with its existing Concert Hub becoming a Live Events Feed.

The streaming firm said in a blog post about the revamp: "The Live Events Feed is our new in-app destination where you can discover all the live events in your local area, personalised to you. We've sourced these listings from our ticketing partners - Ticketmaster, AXS, Dice, Eventbrite, See Tickets, and more. Plus, alongside this revamped feed, we're launching new places within the app to help you stay in the know about upcoming events in your area from the artists you love".

Expanding on the changes a little, the firm's Senior Director Of Live Events René Volker added: "We're also incorporating show discovery into the fan's listening moment. This means that when our fans are listening to a creator they love and that creator has an upcoming tour date, we'll be able to show that live event to them, in-app, right while they're listening. With this feature, we hope to make concert discovery much easier and more seamless for fans, making them aware of relevant shows right when they are at their most engaged".

So that's all lovely. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Spotify is also piloting a new feature called Community which will make it easier for users to see what music their friends are listening to and what playlists they've recently updated within the streaming platform's mobile app.

Spotify has dabbled in various ways with adding social media style functionality over the years, although generally it's not seemed like a top priority - especially in more recent years - and an existing 'friend activity' feature is only available on its desktop app. Asked about the new Community feature, Spotify told TechCrunch that is was in an early testing phase, and offered no information on if and when it might be rolled out.

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EBU defends its decision that Eurovision 2023 can't take place in Ukraine
The European Broadcasting Union issued another statement yesterday regarding its decision to not stage the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine, despite Ukrainian group the Kalush Orchestra winning this year's competition.

The government and public broadcaster of Ukraine have both said that they want to host Eurovision in 2023 following Kalush Orchestra's victory at Eurovision 2022. But earlier this month the EBU said that - given the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine - it was now in talks with the BBC about staging next year's Eurovision shows in the UK, on the basis that UK entrant Sam Ryder was in second place at last month's edition.

Ukrainian Culture Minister Tkachenko Oleksandr criticised that decision, and British Prime Minister 'Boris' Johnson also urged the Eurovision organiser to reconsider its position regarding hosting its 2023 shows somewhere within Ukraine. However, the EBU defended its decision in the new statement yesterday.

Insisting that it "fully understands the disappointment that greeted the announcement that the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest cannot be staged in Ukraine, this year's winning country", it added that "the decision was guided by the EBU's responsibility to ensure the conditions are met to guarantee the safety and security of everyone working and participating in the event, the planning of which needs to begin immediately in the host country".

"At least 10,000 people are usually accredited to work on, or at, the Eurovision Song Contest including crew, staff and journalists", it went on. "A further 30,000 fans are expected to travel to the event from across the world. Their welfare is our prime concern. It is therefore critical that decisions made in relation to such a complex live television event are made by broadcasting professionals and do not become politicised".

It then explained: "The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, that all participating broadcasters agree upon, clearly state that the event can be moved in a force majeure situation such as an ongoing war. In response to the EBU's security questionnaire a number of risks that would impact the immediate planning for such a large event, including the 'severe' risk of air raids/attacks by aircraft or attacks by drones or missiles, which can cause significant casualties, were highlighted by the Ukrainian assessment provided to us".

"Additionally", it went on, "the EBU sought third-party expert security advice which clearly stated that the counter measures proposed to mitigate the threats planning the event in Ukraine were insufficient for an international public event and the risk rating of a mass casualty event due to the ongoing conflict is 'high'. Alongside the security concerns, the continued conflict in Ukraine makes delegations and participants reluctant to travel to the country".

The EBU added that it had also noted comments made by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to the effect that the war in Ukraine "could take years", and also that "no major international concert tours are visiting Ukraine throughout 2023".

And, "with regards to the possibility of hosting the Contest in a border location close to a neighbouring country, the specifications of suggested venues, and the lack of the necessary surrounding infrastructure, do not meet the requirements of the Contest".

"All this contributes to the EBU's overall assessment that in terms of security and operational guarantees, the necessary requirements for hosting, as set out in the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, are not met", it concluded. "Taking all of this into account the EBU, with regret, made its decision to move the event to another country and will continue discussions on finding a suitable location for next year's Eurovision Song Contest".

Although it added that it was happy to engage further with Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC on all of these issues, the EBU does seem pretty adamant that next year's Eurovision will have to happen somewhere outside of Ukraine, with the UK remaining the most likely other option.

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Kerrang! Awards presented in London
The Kerrang! Awards took place last night in London's glittering Shoreditch Town Hall, seeing the great and the good of rock and metal music showered with praise.

"The alternative music scene is more exciting than ever in 2022, and this year's Kerrang! Awards underlines our commitment to supporting new music and championing the underdogs", says Kerrang! Editor Luke Morton.

"I'm so proud to introduce three new categories that strike at the heart of the underground and the alternative community, while also recognising the stadium-conquering legends who have paved the way and make the alt scene the most inspiring place to be right now. Our world is alive with positive change - get on board".

There were no runaway winners on the night, with each prize going to a different artist, therefore allowing for the biggest possible celebration of British and international talent.

Here are all the winners:

Best British Breakthrough: Nova Twins
Best British Act: Biffy Clyro
Best International Breakthrough: Amyl And the Sniffers
Best International Act: Poppy
Best Live Act: Twenty One Pilots
Best Song: Bring Me The Horizon - DiE4u
Best Album: Bob Vylan - Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life
Best Festival: Download Pilot
New Noise Award: Wargasm
The Disruptor Award: Mimi Barks
Grassroots Award: Janey Starling
Kerrang! Icon: Green Day
Kerrang! Inspiration Award: Fall Out Boy
Kerrang! Hall Of Fame: Weezer

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DEALS

Katatonia have signed a new deal with Napalm Records. "Katatonia has been one of the most impactful metal acts, always progressing throughout their career", says the label's Thomas Caser. "Teaming up with such an iconic act is a dream of every music fan. We are beyond excited to work with the band and their team!"

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LIVE BUSINESS

Live music companies Broadwick Live and LWE have announced a series of shows to launch a new venue in London, The Beams at East London's Royal Docks. "Musically, we will lean into the partnership, programming an eclectic series of day to night events over twelve consecutive Saturdays - October to December", says Ajay Jayaram, Director Of Music at Broadwick Live. "We'll be featuring top tier names and emerging talent, across various sounds, styles and genres within the broad sphere of house, techno, disco and everything that lies in between".

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RELEASES

Taylor Swift has released a brand new song for once. 'Carolina' is taken from the soundtrack of the upcoming movie adaptation of the book 'Where The Crawdads Sing'. "About a year and half ago I wrote a song about an incredible story, the story of a girl who always lived on the outside, looking in", says Swift on Instagram. "I wrote this one alone in the middle of the night and then Aaron Dessner and I meticulously worked on a sound that we felt would be authentic to the moment in time when this story takes place".

Charlie Puth has released his collaboration with Jungkook of BTS, 'Left And Right'.

YG has teamed up with 21 Savage, Tyga and BIA for new track 'Run', from his upcoming album 'Pray For Me'.

Christine And The Queens has released new single 'Je Te Vois Enfin'.

A1 x J1 have released new single 'Deal Or No Deal', featuring Mabel and based on her song 'Finders Keepers'. "Working with Mabel has been amazing", says A1. "She's been one of our dream collaborators since we started so it's sick actually getting to work with her".

Willow has released new single 'Maybe It's My Fault'. "It's all too often in tender emotional states we try to blame our hurts on other people", she says. "'Maybe It's My Fault' explores what it's like to hold ourselves equally accountable for the emotional pain we feel while also allowing ourselves to be human and fully process all of our feelings without shame".

Simon Goff and Katie Melua have released 'Textures Of Melodies', the latest single from their upcoming album 'Aerial Objects'. That's out on 15 Jul. "This song continues the idea around creating and writing, how to capture memories and how to capture the feelings of relationships, especially in their early stages", says Melua. "Songs and memories obviously suit each other; the lyrics are also about my man and his positivity".

Megadeth will release new album 'The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead' on 2 Sep. "For the first time in a long time, everything that we needed on this record is right in its place", says frontman Dave Mustaine. "I can't wait for the public to get hold of this!" Here's new single 'We'll Be Back'.

The Snuts have announced that they will release new album 'Burn The Empire' on 7 Oct. Latest single 'The Rodeo' is out now. "We want it to encourage the feeling of absolute pure, inclusive escapism through guitar music", says vocalist Jack Cochrane.

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GIGS & TOURS

Sugababes have announced UK tour dates in October and November, including a performance at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on 2 Nov. Tickets go on sale on 1 Jul.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily - updated every Friday.

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Lil Nas X puts BET beef in song on new single
Lil Nas X has immortalised his ongoing beef with the BET Awards on new single 'Late To Da Party', opening the track with a chant of "fuck BET".

The new song, which also features Youngboy Never Broke Again, doesn't specifically lay into BET any further, although the lyrics do assure everyone listening that Lil Nas X doesn't need anyone's help to make money. So that's good.

This year's BET Awards are set to take place in LA this Sunday and - as he has been teasing this new track on social media in recent weeks - the rapper has been taking aim at the ceremony due to his lack of nominations.

Insisting that his complaint is not simply sour grapes, he wrote on Twitter earlier this month: "This [is] not over no BET Award, this is about the bigger problem of homophobia in the black community. Y'all can sit and pretend all you want but imma risk it all for us".

"I just feel like black gay people have to fight to be seen in this world and even when we make it to the top MFs try to pretend we are invisible", he added.

Nas has received one BET nomination during his career so far, picking up a Best New Artist nod in 2020. He has also performed at the BET Awards show in the past, including a performance of his song 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)' last year.

Since then, he's released his debut album 'Montero', which you might have thought would make him a shoo-in for at least one nomination this year. But no.

In response to the rapper's BET dissing in recent weeks, organisers of the awards have insisted that they "love" him and blamed their academy of voters for not adding him to any shortlists.

"We love Lil Nas X", they said. "He was nominated for a Best New Artist BET Award in 2020 and we proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice: he performed 'Old Town Road' with Billy Ray Cyrus at BET Awards 2019 and his BET Awards 2021 performance was a highlight of our show. No one cheered louder that night than BET".

"Unfortunately", they went on, "this year, he was not nominated by BET's Voting Academy, which is comprised of an esteemed group of nearly 500 entertainment professionals in the fields of music, television, film, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, influencers, and creative arts. No one from BET serves as a member of the Voting Academy".

They then insisted that they "are passionate advocates for the wonderful diversity that exists within our community" and "are committed to using all of our platforms to provide visibility and inclusion for all of the many intersections of the black community".

None of that has seemingly placated Lil Nas X though, given he has now gone ahead and released 'Late To Da Party' complete with the "fuck BET" chant. Watch (and bask in the high production values of) the video for the song here.

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