US musician given 18-month prison sentence for US$8 million AI streaming fraud
Micheal Smith was found to have used bot accounts to generate "billions" of fake streams of AI music on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music
A US musician will spend a year and a half in prison for masterminding an AI streaming fraud scheme that earned him over US$8 million in royalties.
On Tuesday (October 6), the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York confirmed that Micheal Smith, who first pleaded guilty to the charges in March, will serve an 18-month prison sentence and has been ordered to forfeit US$8,091,843.64.
As reported by Music Business Worldwide, investigators found that, between 2017 and 2024, Smith had used a plethora of bot accounts to generate billions of streams of AI music on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
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Smith, an aspiring musician, had initially begun generating streams of his own music, which transformed into a plot to upload "hundreds of thousands" of AI-generated tracks, garnering over 80 million streams in April 2023 on YouTube Music alone.
According to court documentation, prosecutors believe Smith amassed a total of US$14 million from various platforms across the multi-year scheme.
"Michael Smith exploited super intelligence technology to generate a fraud 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," US Attorney Jamie McDonald said after the sentencing.
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In a statement, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said: "This result sends a clear message that streaming fraud is a crime and has serious consequences. But enforcement is only one part of tackling streaming fraud – we also need to prevent, detect and disrupt fraudulent activity."
"The global music industry is collectively doing just that through the Streaming Integrity Initiative which protects artists, rightsholders and fans and strengthens trust in streaming," the statement continues.
[Via: Music Business Worldwide]
Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, get in touch with her here.
