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Musician sentenced to 18 months for $10 million AI-bot streaming fraud

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Summary

A North Carolina musician was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using AI-generated songs and automated bots to fraudulently earn more than $10 million in streaming royalties, while using VPNs to avoid anti-fraud systems.

Key points

  • Michael Smith pleaded guilty to inflating song streams on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music from 2017 to 2024.
  • He uploaded hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs and used automated bots to stream them billions of times.
  • Smith used more than 1,000 bot accounts and VPNs to evade streaming platforms’ anti-fraud systems.
  • Prosecutors said the scheme generated more than $10 million in royalties; Smith later claimed the songs had earned $12 million.
  • Smith was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, two years of supervised release, and forfeiture of $8,091,843.64.

Article Details

Event Type
Federal sentencing for AI-bot-driven music-streaming royalty fraud
Impact
Michael Smith collected more than $10 million in streaming royalties through the scheme. U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said it diverted millions in royalty payments from genuine artists. Smith was sentenced to 18 months in prison, ordered to forfeit $8,091,843.64, and given two years of supervised release.

People

Jamie McDonaldU.S. Attorney who said the scheme deprived genuine artists of royalty payments.Michael SmithMusician who pleaded guilty to fraudulently inflating music streams and was sentenced for the royalty fraud scheme.

Vendors

SpotifyA North Carolina musician was sentenced to 18 months in prison for collecting more than $10 million in royalties from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music in a massive streaming royalty fraud scheme.

Products

Amazon MusicA North Carolina musician was sentenced to 18 months in prison for collecting more than $10 million in royalties from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music in a massive streaming royalty fraud scheme.Apple MusicA North Carolina musician was sentenced to 18 months in prison for collecting more than $10 million in royalties from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music in a massive streaming royalty fraud scheme.SpotifyA North Carolina musician was sentenced to 18 months in prison for collecting more than $10 million in royalties from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music in a massive streaming royalty fraud scheme.YouTube MusicA North Carolina musician was sentenced to 18 months in prison for collecting more than $10 million in royalties from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music in a massive streaming royalty fraud scheme.

Industries

Music streaming"By flooding music streaming platforms with automated bots in the place of consumers, and fake songs in the place of creativity, Smith robbed millions in royalty payments from genuine artists and their fans," said U.S.