Did MegaUpload’s cloud service lead to their closure?

It is rumoured that the closure of MegaUpload has been brought about by the imminent launch of MegaBox.

The MegaUpload case continues to create news with the latest rumour being that it was shut as the company’s soon to be released other Mega services were going to pose problems for the music and cinema’s legal services.

In addition to copyright infringements, it is the future perspectives of MegaBox which led to hostilities being kicked off. MegaBox was being developed to offer an alternative economic model to that being put forward by record labels.

MegaBox was presented by MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom as a competitor to iTunes, with it being possible for artists to directly sell their work to end users, providing them with revenue of 90% of sales.

Also known as "iTunes in the cloud", MegaBox was in beta testing with a launch to be planned this year, along with a film version called MegaMovie. Even for free downloads, MegaBox had the ambition of paying artists thanks to the MegaKey technology which allowed them to receive advertising revenue.

Kim Dotcom explained to TorrentFreak in early December 2011 that MegaKey was a program that was installed on computers which asked whether it could replace 10 to 15% of online advertising seen by an internet user with targeted advertising provided by MegaClick, MegaUpload’s advertising division.

There is therefore a conspiracy theory that MegaUpload has been attacked by the advertising industry that would have seen their revenue dry up with the release of MegaBox. It shouldn’t be forgotten that American authorities had been planning their raid for at least a year.

Could this simply be a crazy rumour? In any event, the reason for closing MegaUpload is a model that will surely be followed for copyright violations. Arrested in New Zealand, Kim Dotcom has been denied bail and will remain in detention until the 22nd of February when he will find out whether he will be extradited to the United States.