Subscribe
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE

Megaupload CEO Swizz Beatz Gets Hip-Hop Star Pals In Trouble

 

Working with Swizz Beatz can get you a hit record and a lawsuit. The New York Post reports that the record labels of Sean “Diddy” Combs, Kanye West and will.i.am, amongst others, were not pleased when they learned the participated in a video promo for Megaupload.

Apparently it was Swizz, who is listed as Megaupload’s CEO, who convinced the aforementioned artists, including his wife Alicia Keys, to participate in the clip promoting the file storign and sharing service. However, since sites like Megaupload make trading pirated music easy, they have drawn the scorn of the recording industry. Although Megaupload contends the majority of their users use their service legitimately, the Universal Music Group immediately demanded the video (see below) be taken down, citing that its artists performed without permission.

Megaupload has countered with a lawsuit of its own. “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,” a Megaupload rep told the Post. “They promised that they had the rights to enter into that agreement and it’s not interfering with any third-party rights.”