A North Carolina man, Michael Smith, is facing fraud charges for allegedly uploading hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs to streaming services and using bots to play them billions of times, resulting in over $10 million in royalties since 2017. Smith, 52, was arrested after an indictment revealed he used bots to steal royalty payments from platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, leading to charges of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count. This case marks the first criminal use of bots to inflate music streaming numbers according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Smith is accused of creating thousands of bots to stream songs after realizing his own music catalog was not sufficient to generate substantial royalties, eventually turning to AI-generated music with the help of a CEO of an AI music company and a music promoter. Smith allegedly deceived streaming services with fake account details while setting up bots and attempted to cover his tracks using dummy email addresses and VPNs. US Attorney Damian Williams condemned Smith’s actions as a brazen fraud scheme that stole millions in royalties from legitimate musicians, songwriters, and rights holders. In contrast, musician Matt Farley, profiled earlier this year for writing and uploading tens of thousands of songs to streaming services, has earned around $200,000 from his music in 2023 through legitimate means.
