Fraudster jailed for using 10K bots and AI songs to outstream Taylor Swift
Summary
Michael Smith, a man from North Carolina, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using artificial intelligence to create fake songs. He used bots and fake accounts to illegally stream these songs millions of times on major music platforms, stealing money from the music industry.Key Facts
- Michael Smith ran a fake streaming scheme for seven years starting in 2017.
- He created thousands of fake accounts using fake emails and stolen debit cards on services like Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music.
- Smith used bots to play his AI-generated songs billions of times to collect streaming money.
- In April 2023, his fake songs were streamed 80.9 million times, far more than Taylor Swift’s 9.3 million streams that month.
- This scheme reduced the royalties paid to real artists who share the streaming revenue pool.
- Smith must pay back over $8 million he earned from the fraud.
- His lawyers wanted probation instead of jail, but the court gave him 18 months in prison.
- The Department of Justice said the punishment is meant to deter others from committing similar streaming fraud.
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