Michael Smith Music Streaming Fraud, New York, 2023

Related Federal Cases

Michael Smith, Wire Fraud, New York NY, 2023 · New York
Michael Smith, AI-Generated Streaming Scam, NC, 2023 · North Carolina
Michael Smith, Wire Fraud Conspiracy, NC, 2023 · North Carolina
Eastern European Man Pleads Guilty to Internet Fraud · New York
Kenneth Thom Admits to Investment Advisor Fraud, New York NY, 2023 · North Carolina

Table of Contents

Michael Smith Music Streaming Fraud, New York, 2023

A North Carolina musician has been arrested and charged with music streaming fraud after allegedly using automated programs to stream songs billions of times and steal over $10 million in royalty payments.

Michael Smith, 38, was arrested on [date] and is set to appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in North Carolina. The indictment alleges that Smith created hundreds of thousands of songs with artificial intelligence and used automated programs to stream the songs billions of times.

According to the indictment, Smith created thousands of accounts on music streaming platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music, which he used to stream his AI-generated songs. He allegedly estimated that he could generate approximately 661,440 streams per day, yielding annual royalties of $1,207,128.

Smith’s scheme was designed to avoid detection by spreading his automated streams across thousands of songs. He was aware that if a single song was streamed one billion times, it would raise suspicions, but by spreading the streams across many songs, he could make it more difficult to detect the manipulation.

As alleged in the indictment, Smith turned to artificial intelligence to create the necessary number of songs for his scheme to succeed. He began working with a music company and a music promoter to create hundreds of thousands of songs with AI.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, ‘As alleged, Michael Smith fraudulently streamed songs created with artificial intelligence billions of times in order to steal royalties. Through his brazen fraud scheme, Smith stole millions in royalties that should have been paid to musicians, songwriters, and other rights holders whose songs were legitimately streamed.’

FBI Acting Assistant Director Christie M. Curtis said, ‘Michael Smith allegedly produced hundreds of thousands of songs and utilized automatic features to repeatedly stream the music to generate unlawful royalties to the tune of $10 million. The defendant’s alleged scheme played upon the integrity of the music industry by a concerted attempt to circumvent the streaming platforms’ policies.’