Are Celebrities Inadvertently Approving Us to Steal Their Music?

Some of the biggest celebrities have joined forces to create a song and video that might surprise us all. Artists like Kanye West, Will.I.Am, Alicia Keys, P.Diddy, Snoop Dogg, and even celebs like Serena Williams, and Kim Kardashian are all featured on a song and video about Megaupload. Megaupload is a file sharing service that makes it easier for content to spread across the internet quickly. Basically, Megaupload makes it easier for us to listen to music that hasn’t been officially released, and download it for free, instead of paying for it (a.k.a piracy). And while most of us would assume artists would be against Megaupload, apparently it doesn’t. On the song, Will.I.Am says,

“When I got to send files across the globe, I use Megaupload”

And Diddy explains,

“When I send my hits out I use Megaupload.”

Although the artists are just endorsing the Megaupload site in their lyrics, we’re pretty sure that they know the site is one of the biggest used for piracy.  Even though they, themselves, don’t seem to be bothered much by it, record labels are. UMG, a record conglomerate that owns labels which P.Diddy, Will.I.Am, and Kanye are signed to, has asked that this new song and the video for it be removed from youtube. It looks like UMG got their way, because the video was taken off of Vimeo shortly afterwards.

But what do YOU think about piracy —> now that celebrities have made a song approving one of the main sites it’s done on, do you still feel guilty about downloading leaked music?

[Huffington Post]

-@Kami2Kute