Oh??? Yeah... I figured the layers of the Onion were gonna get peeled back over this issue...
Swizz Beatz has Sean “Diddy” Combs, Kanye West and Will.i.am in hot water with their label by getting them to promote his site, MegaUpload. The CEO of the Internet company, Beatz — also a recording artist, producer and DJ — persuaded the stars to appear in a “Mega Song” video promoting his service, intended to send large media files. The catch is the music industry has been fighting against file sharing, accusing the services MegaUpload offers of supporting piracy. Beatz’s wife, Alicia Keys, has also promoted the site with her picture and a quote. Swizz had also asked Mary J. Blige, Kim Kardashian, Lil Jon and Macy Gray to promote MegaUpload. But after the starry promo appeared on YouTube last month, Diddy, Kanye and Will.i.am’s label, Universal Music Group, issued a “take-down notice” to YouTube, saying the artists’ performances were unauthorized. Their individual reps followed up, sources say. Mega-Upload fired back with a lawsuit against Universal to stop it from blocking distribution of the video. A Mega rep told us: “We have never received any word that any artist has [individually] filed a take-down . . . [we have] legally binding agreements with the performers that appear in the video . . . They promised that they had the rights to enter into that agreement and it’s not interfering with any third-party rights.” UMG and Diddy reps wouldn’t comment. West’s and Will.i.am’s reps didn’t get back to us.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/music_stars_in_upload_of_trouble_cpoHrLbEe7gr3Od5XcF9BL#ixzz1jpMM4qFn
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