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Kim Dotcom Just Launched His New Music Service With His Own Album

Daniel_Stuckey writes "Dotcom today released his debut album Good Times, which consists of 17 pretty terrible EDM tracks produced by the Mega mogul himself. According to a press release, 'The music celebrates Kim's ever-present philosophy of inspiring people to feel good, have fun and live life to the fullest. Kim was inspired by the Trance and Dance tracks he listened to during his high-speed driving times on the German Autobahn.' It's anything but subtle, as you might guess from an album advertised on the back of a 100-strong fleet of buses. In an interview with Wired at the end of the year Dotcom admitted he sounded 'like crap, obviously,' but added, 'Fortunately there's a thing called Auto-Tune so they make it sound OK.'"

69 comments

  1. Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He wants a slice of that $20000-per-pirated-track pie.

    1. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't think he needs any more pie.

    2. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      After listening to a few seconds of a couple of his tunes, I feel that he owes me $20,000 per track. Talk about horrible. His shit makes The Black Eyed Peas sound like Mozart.

    3. Re:Smart by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Funny

      The worst I can say is that it sounds generic. If it had a Lil Wayne cameo, it would get plenty of airplay.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    4. Re:Smart by alphatel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The worst I can say is that it sounds generic. If it had a Lil Wayne cameo, it would get plenty of airplay.

      And while listening to this crap I immediately thought to myself "How the F*** do we have copyrights for 120 years to protect auto-generated crap like this?"

      --
      When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
    5. Re:Smart by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Pretty much. I'm fairly confident that he still would have made this, even with a meager 3 decade copyright :)

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    6. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Would somebody please just put it on youtube already. I want to hear how bad it is for myself and post demeaning comments online, but I'm afraid that if I visit this "mega" site I might get put on another terrorist watch list.

    7. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, it's pretty at the level that most other paid artists are putting out. That said, most all of your "pop" music is forgettable. Like Mozart in his day. There are plenty of composers, but how many have endured beyond their pop-audiences of their times? Few, very few.

    8. Re:Smart by brit74 · · Score: 1

      And while listening to this crap I immediately thought to myself "How the F*** do we have copyrights for 120 years to protect auto-generated crap like this?"

      That's because copyright are protecting an entire *class* of works. In other words: you shouldn't hold up the worst example and then ask that question. We certainly wouldn't want anyone in the government making decisions about "this is good, it gets a long copyright but that is crap it shouldn't get copyright protection".

    9. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That means it is 120 years till anyone bother you with this crap again. Don't buy it, and you'll have no right to hear it. Copyright on shitty music is a good thing, it disappears that much faster. Bach is out of copyright, so he turns up whenever there is classical music. Fortunately, he happens to be good.

      In the same vein, copyright on microsoft products is good. Please report anyone with an illegal copy - crack down hard on software piracy. The best software is free. . .

  2. Simpsons reference by Akratist · · Score: 3, Interesting
    1. Re:Simpsons reference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      See since you linked to urban dictionary you ran the audience through the gauntlet; can they recognize a pop culture reference based on the keywords in a URL? Because it's slashdot it's upvoted, at 4 now, because of the geek part but very nice cause you put some effort into posting what you thought, knowing some of us only needed a small push to think of it as well. Anyone who didn't get the joke by reading the URL can go there for a clearer joke, and if it had been a youtube link it wouldn't have been obvious to those of us who could see the URL. Good work, Anonymous Coward AWAY!

  3. Auto-Tune by HyperQuantum · · Score: 2

    A lot of artists use Auto-Tune these days.

    Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXK9t4A2PsU

    --
    I am not really here right now.
    1. Re:Auto-Tune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A lot of artists use Auto-Tune these days.

      Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXK9t4A2PsU

      Yes, I would agree that a lot of artists use Auto-Tune.

      And as long as you don't call them musicians or singers, you won't offend those who actually have talent.

      Pop music is not music. It's a product. The evidence lies within the constant confusion trying to determine which artist is on the radio, for they all sound the same. Same stolen bass track with non-stop repetitive lyrics that can be best summarized as a pointless YOLOesque tirade.

    2. Re:Auto-Tune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most pop artists use auto-tune when recording music. It's like make-up, once a large enough number of people use it to hide their imperfections, everybody in the same circles has to use it too just to keep up.

    3. Re:Auto-Tune by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      Correction, very few "Artists" use autotune... lots of attractive people hired by music producers to pretend to be artists find it very handy however.

    4. Re:Auto-Tune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Got a cite? According to music producers just about all recorded pop songs are passed through auto-tune. It's true that auto-tune does a lot more correction for some "singers" than others, but they're all auto-tuned, just like all fashion photos are touched up to some degree or other.

    5. Re:Auto-Tune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The song on the album with least autotune is the one he sings on. ("Live my Life")
      He's talking through most of it, so autotune wouldn't do anything useful in a production sense.
      Strangely, it's probably the best song on the album. The rest is generic dreck.

    6. Re:Auto-Tune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Fortunately there's a thing called Auto-Tune so they make it sound OK."

      No, I don't think Auto-Tune has ever produced that result.

      If you like robotic voices, then it's OK.

  4. Yo dawg we heard you were an attention whore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So we Auto-tuned the tunes you listen to in your auto. Now you can listen to useless shit while you shit becomes useless.

    1. Re:Yo dawg we heard you were an attention whore by Ol+Biscuitbarrel · · Score: 1

      Tune tune tune with the Autotune!

  5. Thought it said Kim Jong-Un for a second... by Zimluura · · Score: 4, Funny

    Kim Dotcom hasn't been in the news much lately, so I thought it said Kim Jong-Un for a second. "Oppan Pyongyang style"

    1. Re:Thought it said Kim Jong-Un for a second... by ThatsDrDangerToYou · · Score: 3, Funny

      Kim Dotcom hasn't been in the news much lately, so I thought it said Kim Jong-Un for a second. "Oppan Pyongyang style"

      No, Kim Jong-Un's album has been delayed after he accidentally killed all of his bandmates. Because the traitorous bastards said Kim was out of tune! Some nerve..

    2. Re:Thought it said Kim Jong-Un for a second... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kim Dotcom hasn't been in the news much lately, so I thought it said Kim Jong-Un for a second. "Oppan Pyongyang style"

      Nope, this time it's the egotistical douchebag who seriously changed his name to "Dotcom" because the dot-com era lasted forever. It's a very subtle distinction.

  6. Inc CIA operatives by Jartan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Baboom users can install a little plugin that replaces the ads you'd normally see on the internet with ones that we control through our ad network. Just as advertisers go to AdWords to buy ads from Google for certain search terms, they'll be able to come to us and buy these ads at half the price and still have ads shown against the same keywords.

    When the corporate masters hear about this it's going to get dicey.

    1. Re:Inc CIA operatives by Robadob · · Score: 1

      Additionally I would expect that malware authors find it easier to get around his ad filters than the major companies, perhaps he will next be arrested for distributing malware.

  7. Germany by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That my friends, is a Free country. Not like that crap USA of yours.

    Autobahn = Freedom

    1. Re:Germany by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is your government still denying benefits to young women that refuse to work in brothels?

      Yay "freedom"

    2. Re:Germany by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. They had to issue a "voluntary regulation" to prevent stripping of benefits for refusing to be a prostitute. But brothel owners still send out offers and girls still receive them. Sometimes these incidents get in the news.

      Who knows how many girls just comply and go to the brothel because the offer showed up in the government system?

  8. "Fortunately there's a thing called Auto-Tune" by KatchooNJ · · Score: 1

    "Fortunately there's a thing called Auto-Tune..." Never thought I'd hear someone say that sentence without joking about it.

    --
    "Never give up, for that is just the time and place when the tide will change." -Harriet Beecher Stowe ^_^
    1. Re:"Fortunately there's a thing called Auto-Tune" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You assume that he doesn't.

  9. It's a trap! by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Good Times" is widely known as the most dangerous computer virus of all time.

    "Goodtimes will re-write your hard drive. Not only that, but it will scramble any disks that are even close to your computer. It will recalibrate your refrigerator's coolness setting so all your ice cream goes melty. It will demagnetize the strips on all your credit cards, screw up the tracking on your television and use subspace field harmonics to scratch any CD's you try to play.

    "It will give your ex-girlfriend your new phone number. It will mix Kool-aid into your fishtank. It will drink all your beer and leave its socks out on the coffee table when there's company coming over. It will put a dead kitten in the back pocket of your good suit pants and hide your car keys when you are late for work.

    "Goodtimes will make you fall in love with a penguin. It will give you nightmares about circus midgets. It will pour sugar in your gas tank and shave off both your eyebrows while dating your girlfriend behind your back and billing the dinner and hotel room to your Discover card."

    Seriously, just don't do it.

    1. Re:It's a trap! by Alsee · · Score: 1

      After I got infected by the Good Times virus my compiler stopped pre-computing constant value functions.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  10. MEGA Windows sync client by kubajz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope this is not too off-topic, but Mega has recently (and very quietly, without even a mention on their blog) released a Windows sync client - a significant step in being feature-complete compared to their less-encrypted competition of Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft SkyDrive.

    1. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't store my shopping list on this crook's servers, let alone anything of value.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good work man!

      P.S: We don't seem to have your latest payment details on file. Could you please contact Emma over at the RIAA office in Los Angeles so we can get the checks sent over to you? Thanks!

    3. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Storing something somewhere implies trust to some degree.

      And I wouldn't trust Kimmie Schmitz an inch further than I can throw him.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wouldn't store my shopping list on this crook's servers, let alone anything of value.

      As opposed to which crooks?

    5. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      I see, so I cannot possibly despise RIAA and Dotcom. I must pick either.

      How about this, they're all a pack of crooks and I wouldn't piss on a RIAA lawyer or Dotcom if they were on fire.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    6. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      I don't store my important data anywhere that I can't look straight at the server. I don't trust Google or Dropbox either.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    7. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by tobiasly · · Score: 3, Funny

      or Dotcom if they were on fire.

      That would take a LOT of piss...

    8. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, because line of sight is a requirement for offsite backups. What's next, fog of war terminology for file access?

    9. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      My offsite backups compromise both data being pushed to our branch offices via VPN and encrypted tapes in a safety deposit box.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    10. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      I have copies of my insurance certificates on Dropbox, Google Drive and Sky Drive. They are pretty important, but the NSA will already have a copy of the email the insurer sent to me enclosing them as pdf attachments, and while there is some risk that someone else could use them for a spear phishing attack on me, I figure it is less risk than the risk to me of losing them, and there is a good chance that the circumstances that could cause me to lose them might also be circumstances that cause me to have to make a claim on my insurance.

    11. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by TangoMargarine · · Score: 1

      Not even if it was flaming sulphurous urine?

      --
      Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
    12. Re:MEGA Windows sync client by kubajz · · Score: 1

      My understanding is that MEGA work by encrypting your data client-side within the browser, so the only thing that could happen to the said shopping list is getting lost, but until it is sent back to your browser and decrypted there even Dotcom cannot read it - that's the main reason why they cannot provide you with a password reset feature. They have a bug bounty program for finding holes in this setup. I do not trust the guy either but I think that this kind of arrangement, while having a side effect of protecting him from liability for users' content, also helps keep my data more secure. OTOH I know Slashdot is full of people more knowledgeable with the matter, so I do not mind hearing more from someone who can poke a few holes in their model :)

  11. Why should I care? by sjbe · · Score: 0

    Dotcom today released his debut album Good Times...

    Please explain to me why on earth I should care? Seriously. Does this guy have any actual discernible musical ability or are we just seeing another talentless hack with a gift for self promotion?

    1. Re:Why should I care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why should we care if you care? Hmm, seriously, there are thousands of people who don't care about this article and they have the decency to simply skip over it and not pollute the internet with useless comments.

      Now if you really care about not caring on earth we can fix that too. We can tie you to the outside of the next rocket launched into space and then you can tell us if you don't care in space as much as you don't care on earth.

    2. Re:Why should I care? by iluvcapra · · Score: 1

      The money's probably going to his legal defense fund. If he told people that, he'd get more Bitcoins than a Matrix cosplay prostitute.

      If you see the 60 Minutes he was in a few months ago, it's pretty clear that the man is incapable of projecting anything less than supreme confidence in the belief that he is The Greatest Thing To Happen to whatever he's trying to do this week, particularly if his goal this week is to play Kim Dotcom, Victim of the Oppressive Copyright State who had No Idea what people used MegaUpload for.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    3. Re:Why should I care? by gsslay · · Score: 1

      Because its an interesting variation on the usual delusional megalomaniac pattern. Traditionally, after going through the usual inventing new awards and names for himself, he should be designing his own army uniforms and medals by now.

      But this is a whole new virtual world, I guess.

    4. Re:Why should I care? by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 1

      The album was released on his new music service, which you may care about. Did you skip the headline too?
      Am I getting grumpier or are you people getting stupider?

    5. Re:Why should I care? by sjbe · · Score: 1

      The album was released on his new music service, which you may care about. Did you skip the headline too?

      No I do not care about his music service. I assure you that I will never use it. This is barely news for nerds and it certainly isn't stuff that matters.

      Am I getting grumpier or are you people getting stupider?

      I would guess the reverse is true.

    6. Re:Why should I care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you are the one assuming your opinions are everyone's. You also neglected to mention that he was releasing a new music service in your first comment, and then you acted like a new music service isn't news.

      I don't think you're stupid, though. Just dishonest.

    7. Re:Why should I care? by reikae · · Score: 1

      Honestly, my first reaction is to be jealous of him, and anyone else who can hold the belief that they're The Greatest Thing To Happen with confidence. I imagine it would be much better than what I have now, that is just enough confidence in myself to get by.

  12. You know.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think the government should go after him for his last name. Make it illegal to have a last name of Dotcom, that would really be funny.

  13. Year Since Launch Mega by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mega was launched exactly 1 year before Baboom was launched. This is no coincidence. Mega already has an Alexa rank of 708. The story here of course is not the release of his album, but the launch of Baboom. This could become a serious competitor of iTunes.

  14. As the old saying goes... by lbmouse · · Score: 1

    You can take the rich boy out of Europe but you can take the Eurotrash out of the boy.

  15. No link to the music service? by trawg · · Score: 1

    It's http://baboom.com/ . Sheesh.

    Pretty sure the interesting thing isn't that he made an album - it's whether or not he can make a free music service that artists want to use.

    1. Re:No link to the music service? by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      With a business model including substituting ads on websites with ones served by them, thereby taking revenue away from small website publishers and giving it to his criminal enterprise, the interesting thing will be how long before he is sued out of existence. Ugh.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
  16. Auto-Tune by tverbeek · · Score: 1

    "Fortunately there's a thing called Auto-Tune so they make it sound OK."

    No, I don't think Auto-Tune has ever produced that result.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  17. Is his "music" free? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or is he ok with us pirating it?

    1. Re:Is his "music" free? by brit74 · · Score: 1

      Considering that his main business isn't making music, I'm sure he'd be fine with people pirating it so that he can become more famous - which makes it easier for him to sell other stuff. Of course, most musicians don't have the large number of "other products" to sell to the world that he does, so he's at a large advantage over them.

    2. Re:Is his "music" free? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His album is free (some may say worthless), so how can it be pirated?

  18. Unlike the others... by DrYak · · Score: 1

    Yup indeed. That album is total crap, just like about any other album output by the music industry.

    But at least, unlike others, he openly admits his album isn't that brilliant.
    Whereas the other artists usually don't want to, and instead blame piracy for the bad sale of their shit.
    At least Kim isn't going to sue PirateBay.

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  19. Urban legends die hard by DrYak · · Score: 1

    Is your government still denying benefits to young women that refuse to work in brothels?

    Hey, and I heard that circus performer is a legit job in your country, does *your* government still deny benefits to young boy that refuse to work as Circus Lion Tamer and/or Human Cannon Ball ?

    Can you please stop perpetrating this stupid urban legend ?

    Yes, indeed, Germany, as well as Switzerland here, and Netherlands recognize prostitution as a regular profession.
    But no, the state CANNOT force a job-seeker to work as a prostitute in a brothel.

    You see, the State recognize the notion of "suitable job". And just like not every single random young man is ready to put his head in jaws of a Lion or jump into a cannon for the entertainment of the audience, the same way not every single random young woman might want to work as a prostitute.
    It takes more than simply having a vagina or a penis to work in a brothel.

    When you get the status of job-seeker, you define professionnal fields in which you are seeking for jobs. The state might try to give you jobs in your field. And you can get penalize if you refuse to apply for such a job which is in your stated professional field of work.

    If you state that you're a teacher, that you're seeking another job in this domain, the state gives you a job offer as a teacher, and you turn it down without reasons, you'll get penalized.
    But nobody is going to penalize you for skipping an opportunity to work as a prostitute if you're a teacher.

    The only situation would be if you're actually a prostitute (and say, your former brothel went bankrupt, or you had to quit because you moved to a different part of the country), and registered as a job-seeker seeking a new position as prostitute in a new brothel, and you turned down an offer to work as a prostitute in borthel A (for example because you are holding because you would prefer getting an offer from brothel B which is more prestigious), that might be the single situation when the state might penalize you.
    (But that isn't likely to happen in real life because the job market for sex workers isn't saturated and thus brothel B would probably hire you as soon as they've recieved your CV/references and interviewed you).

    Now, brothel operator still publish job offers, hoping for the rare occasion when a girl might think "Well, why not... it's a job like another", and decide to accept the offer anyway.

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]