Home · Technology · Oct 6 archive
AI Music Fraudster Sentenced to 18 Months
Confirmed
In Short: Michael Smith, 54, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate thousands of songs and stream them billions of times with bots, earning over $8 million in royalties.
Smith pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after admitting to using AI-generated music and automated accounts to inflate streams across Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
The scheme ran for more than six years and diverted more than $8 million in royalties from pools shared with legitimate artists and rights holders.
Manhattan federal prosecutor Jamie McDonald said Smith had 'exploited' new technology to commit streaming fraud on a massive scale, flooding music streaming platforms with automated bots and fake songs.
Smith's lawyers argued in court filings that the harm to any single artist was 'insignificant' and 'no victim suffered any real harm.' They urged the judge for no prison time.
However, prosecutors countered that Smith had harmed many 'hard-working (and often underpaid) songwriters' and urged the judge to send him to prison for at least 46 months.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) praised the sentencing, stating that streaming fraud harms creators and deceives fans.
The Music Fights Fraud Alliance, an advocacy group, said it would take 'more than one case' to stop streaming fraud and urged continued collaboration to deliver meaningful deterrence.
Smith's sentencing comes amid a broader issue of streaming fraud in the music industry, where bots are used to inflate the popularity of songs, diluting the money paid out to real artists and songwriters.
Background
Former Florida congressman David Rivera was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on behalf of Venezuela's government.
What's confirmed
- Smith pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after admitting to using AI-generated music and automated accounts to inflate streams across Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
- The scheme ran for more than six years and diverted more than $8 million in royalties from pools shared with legitimate artists and rights holders.
- Manhattan federal prosecutor Jamie McDonald said Smith had 'exploited' new technology to commit streaming fraud on a massive scale, flooding music streaming platforms with automated bots and fake songs.
- Smith's lawyers argued in court filings that the harm to any single artist was 'insignificant' and 'no victim suffered any real harm.' They urged the judge for no prison time.
- However, prosecutors countered that Smith had harmed many 'hard-working (and often underpaid) songwriters' and urged the judge to send him to prison for at least 46 months.
- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) praised the sentencing, stating that streaming fraud harms creators and deceives fans.
- The Music Fights Fraud Alliance, an advocacy group, said it would take 'more than one case' to stop streaming fraud and urged continued collaboration to deliver meaningful deterrence.
- Smith's sentencing comes amid a broader issue of streaming fraud in the music industry, where bots are used to inflate the popularity of songs, diluting the money paid out to real artists and songwriters.
What's still developing
- Prosecutors claimed he initially started by merely boosting the plays of his own music, then switched to mass-producing AI songs to fuel the scheme.
- That charge carries a five-year maximum prison sentence, and federal guidelines call for between 46 and 57 months, but probation officials recommended a lighter sentence of 24 months.
- In court filings ahead of sentencing, Smith’s lawyers argued he had caused only “tiny, immeasurable losses” spread across millions of songwriters and artists, and urged no prison time at all: “The effect each individual stream of one artist’s song has on every other artist’s share of total streams is not akin to a drop in a proverbial bucket — it is a drop in an ocean,” Smith’s lawyers wrote.
- His was the first criminal conviction over a tricky problem that’s plagued the music industry for years.
- Related Hilary Duff to Receive Outstanding Pop Tour of the Year Award at 2026 Billboard Live Music Summit Katie Atkinson Ahead of sentencing, his lawyers had asked the judge for no prison time, arguing the harm to any single artist was “insignificant” and “no victim suffered any real harm.” But at a hearing on Tuesday (Oct.
- Bots can certainly be used to inflate the popularity of real acts — an allegation leveled by Drake at Universal Music Group in their bruising legal battle over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” But the far more common and more damaging form of streaming fraud is scammers trying to pull royalties for fake or copied songs, a practice that dilutes the money paid out to real artists and songwriters.
- Prosecutors said Smith’s catalog generated 80.9 million streams from YouTube Music family-plan subscribers in April 2023, compared with 9.3 million for Taylor Swift’s entire catalog among the same subscribers that month.
- In their filing, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas Chiuchiolo and Kevin Mead argued that the length and scale of the fraud justify a prison term at the bottom of the federal guideline range.
- Read More » Pras Michel, a founding member of the hip-hop group Fugees, has surrendered to federal authorities to begin serving a 14-year prison sentence following his 2023 conviction on multiple criminal charges, including money laundering, illegal lobbying, and campaign finance violations.
- Tin and Justine Harris, have asked for probation, arguing that he initially believed his conduct was lawful and sought advice from an experienced music lawyer.
- A fraudster who staged motor collisions using women he met online was sentenced for the “crash for cash” scheme designed to generate fraudulent insurance claims, the ABI said.
- Industry leaders say bogus claims rose 14% last year, pushing up premiums for all customers Industry leaders say bogus claims rose 14% last year, pushing up premiums for all customers An insurance fraudster who pocketed more than £14,000 for the supposed theft of Lego sets, fishing gear and gaming consoles was behind one of last year’s most high-profile bogus claims.