Indicted Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom admits his new file-sharing site is struggling to keep up with massive demand.
Dotcom launched the “Mega” site with a lavish party on Sunday, the anniversary of his arrest on racketeering charges related to his now-shuttered Megaupload. Dotcom says 500,000 users registered for Mega within 14 hours.
On Tuesday, Dotcom apologized on Twitter for “poor service” and said the launch party — which featured a reenactment of last year’s police raid on his mansion — led to huge publicity and huge demand.
Dotcom tweeted: “Lesson learned… No fancy launch event for Megabox.”
Dotcom plans to launch his Megabox music service in about six months.
U.S. prosecutors accuse Dotcom of facilitating massive online piracy with Megaupload.
Dotcom says he’s innocent and remains free on bail.
The Mega website began accepting registrations from the public Sunday, coinciding with the time the first helicopter touched down at Dotcom’s $25 million mansion in an Auckland suburb.
The site Dotcom started in 2005 was one of the most popular sites on the web until U.S. prosecutors shut it down and accused him and several company officials of facilitating millions of illegal downloads.
In Dotcom’s typical grandiose style, the launch party featured a tongue-in-cheek re-enactment of the dramatic raid on his home a year earlier, when police swooped down in helicopters onto the mansion grounds and nabbed him in a safe room where he was hiding.
“Mega is going to be huge, and nothing will stop Mega — whoo!” a gleeful Dotcom bellowed from a giant stage set up in his yard, seconds before a helicopter roared overhead and faux police agents rappelled down the side of his mansion. Dotcom eventually ordered everyone to “stop this madness!” before breaking out into a dance alongside miniskirt-clad “guards” as music boomed.
