Yesterday, Kim Dotcom tweeted an audio recording of a phone conversation between himself and Universal Music Group, about a potential deal between the music label and Megaupload.
While the call was just two days before the 2012 raid and shutdown of Megaupload (and Kim’s home), it showed the label was trying to forge an ad sales deal directly with the company.
These negotiations came at a contentious time, as both companies were already in a lawsuit over UMG trying to censor Megaupload’s theme song.
During the call, UMG executives suggested that if this deal was to go through, the label would downgrade Megaupload’s status within the anti-piracy lobbying world (organizations like the RIAA and MPAA) from “evil to neutral.”
UMG management also admitted on the call that “the business has been controlled by lawyers for a long time.” Considering Megaupload was shutdown before any deal could be forged, UMG’s lawyers may actually have had more power than the executives themselves.
Interestingly, the recording was released right after the launch of BABOOM, the music service that Kim originally founded,but has since been forced to disassociate with.
While it may be too late for this call to spur any change, it is nonetheless interesting to hear that Megaupload and UMG were at one point actively trying to work together, and Kim Dotcom seemed genuinely interested in making this happen.