After showing off his colorful Megaupload jacket in a Dizzee Rascal video last month, he did the same today during his performance on The Voice UK final.

The Megaupload plug doesn’t seem like an accident. As we pointed out earlier, Dizzee Rascal himself also mentions Megaupload in his lyrics without any context.

Why the two are promoting Megaupload remains a mystery.

Perhaps they are among the artists who will join Kim Dotcom’s music service Megabox when it’s released to the public in a few months?

Time will tell…

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Not through piracy, but with the release of a revolutionary music platform called Megabox.

A month later, however, the Megabox domain was seized as part of the criminal case against Megaupload. While many thought this was the end of Dotcom’s ambitious plans, the Megaupload founder announced a few months later that Megabox is not dead yet.

On the contrary, Dotcom told TorrentFreak that some of the world’s top artists have already signed up.

In recent months Dotcom has been working with a team of developers to get Megabox ready for a highly anticipated launch later this year. Today, Megaupload’s founder gave us a look behind the scenes of Megabox and revealed some rather interesting details.

Aside from providing a sneak peek at some of the Megabox features, the video also shows a few frames where it lists “Megabox exclusive artists.” The four artists that are displayed in this section are “The Black Keys,” “Rusko,” “Two Fingers” and “Will.i.am.”

While we can’t be sure that these are indeed artists that have partnered with Dotcom and Megabox, the choice to include these names seems far from random. Will.i.am previously worked on Megaupload’s Mega Song for example, and the other three artists are not really the most logical choice for dummy data.

TorrentFreak asked Kim Dotcom whether the exclusive artists in the video are indeed launch partners, but Dotcom said that he can’t share this information just yet. We’ll have to wait a few more weeks for official confirmation.

So why would artists join Megabox in the first place?

The goal of Megabox is to give the public access to free music and compensate artists through advertising revenue. Megaupload’s founder believes that this “free music” business model has the potential to decrease music piracy while giving artists proper compensation for their work.

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.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

In a guest post for TorrentFreak, the Megaupload founder described the Megabox project as “..a site that will soon allow artists to sell their creations direct to consumers and allowing artists to keep 90% of earnings.”

“You can expect several Megabox announcements [in 2012] including exclusive deals with artists who are eager to depart from outdated business models,” he added.

When Dotcom and his colleagues were arrested earlier this year, many people believed that the Megabox project would fade away. In fact, some theorized that Megabox was one of the main reasons why the recording labels and by extension the U.S. Government wanted the Megaupload team to fold quickly.

However, Dotcom now reveals that he hasn’t give up on the project. On the contrary.

On his brand new Twitter account Dotcom shared a picture of Megabox with the message that “it is coming.”

In a phone conversation Dotcom confirmed to TorrentFreak that the project is indeed making progress, and he promised to share further details in the days to come.

It’s certainly not dead, as the major music labels might have hoped.

While waiting for more details on Megabox, there’s plenty of other material to keep the masses entertained.

Dotcom is clearly in fighting mode judging from the stream of tweets he’s been sending out. Aside from the pictures of his wife and kids, the Megaupload founder also shared a preview of his upcoming website featuring the keywords “MPAA”, “Scandal” and “Obama.”

In a previous interview with TorrentFreak, Dotcom already hinted at government corruption.

“This Mega takedown was possible because of corruption on the highest political level, serving the interests of the copyright extremists in Hollywood,” he said. “Mega has become a re-election pawn.”

A recent tweet affirms this belief and shows that Dotcom is keeping a close eye on the relationship between Vice President Joe Biden and his former colleague, MPAA boss Chris Dodd. “Watch out lovebirds! I know what you did,” he notes.

While it’s not clear what Dotcom is getting at exactly, it’s no secret that Dodd and Biden are close friends. Also, U.S. attorney Neil MacBride who’s in charge of prosecuting Megaupload served as chief counsel for Biden when he was senator.

Dotcom did inform TorrentFreak that there’s will be some interesting revelations in the coming weeks. So stay tuned for fresh Megabox news, and a whole lot more.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.