Smith pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy after generating thousands of songs with AI and using bots to stream them billions of times. The scheme produced more than $8 million in royalties, which he agreed to forfeit. Prosecutors said automated plays displaced royalties due to genuine artists and fans. The sentence establishes a concrete criminal consequence in this case; it does not establish that streaming platforms have adopted any particular new detection system.
Raw SignalOct 8, 20261 min read1 source
AI Music Streaming Fraud Sentence: Man Gets 18 Months Prison for Scam
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A Manhattan federal judge sentenced Michael Smith to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release in the first criminal case over streaming fraud using AI-generated music, Billboard reports.