TL;DR
Get audio and creator gear delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
Michael Smith, a North Carolina musician, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a scheme involving automated streams of songs he owned. The Justice Department said he used as many as 10,000 fraudulent accounts and must forfeit $8 million in royalties. The government says the activity ran from 2017 until his 2024 arrest.
Michael Smith, a 54-year-old North Carolina musician, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for a scheme that used automated accounts to stream songs he owned, the US Justice Department said. Smith must also forfeit $8 million in royalties that prosecutors said he earned through the fraudulent activity, which involved large volumes of AI-generated music.
The Justice Department announced the sentence on October 6. Smith pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The department said his scheme operated from 2017 until his arrest in 2024, generating royalty payments through streams made by bots rather than listeners.
According to prosecutors, Smith created as many as 10,000 fraudulent accounts to play songs he owned. The department said he spread the automated plays across thousands of tracks to avoid a conspicuous concentration of streams on one song. Smith’s bot accounts streamed hundreds of thousands of songs, many made using AI, billions of times, the government said.
The Justice Department cited April 2023 as an example of the scale. It said Smith’s accounts used family plans to generate 80.9 million streams of his music on YouTube Music that month. For comparison, the department said Taylor Swift’s entire catalogue received 9.3 million streams on the service from family-plan streams in the same month. These figures are the government’s illustration of Smith’s activity; the report does not provide a full accounting of the platforms or royalty calculations.
How Bot Streams Divert Royalties
The case shows how fraudulent listening can affect the royalty systems used by music services, where payments are linked in part to recorded streams. When automated accounts generate plays, they can make a track appear to have a real audience and prompt payments that would otherwise go to legitimate rights holders. The Justice Department said Smith’s conduct diverted millions of dollars in royalties from genuine artists and their fans.
The sentence and forfeiture order also put a criminal penalty on stream manipulation at a scale far beyond ordinary attempts to inflate a song’s popularity. The government’s account describes a sustained operation involving thousands of accounts and a vast catalogue, rather than isolated fake plays. The case may be relevant to platforms and rights holders working to distinguish genuine listening from automated activity, though the report does not describe any specific changes to platform rules or detection systems following the prosecution.
AI music streaming detection tools
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
A Scheme Running From 2017
Prosecutors said Smith’s activity began in 2017 and continued until his arrest in 2024. He used accounts to stream music he owned, with much of the catalogue described by the Justice Department as AI-generated. Spreading the streams across numerous songs was intended to make the activity less likely to stand out as an unusual surge around a single track, according to the government’s account.
The case was prosecuted as wire fraud conspiracy. Smith pleaded guilty in March, so the sentencing followed his admission to that charge rather than a trial verdict. The report identifies the $8 million as royalties earned through the scheme and says Smith is required to forfeit that sum.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Details Beyond the Sentence
The available report does not name the streaming platforms involved beyond its YouTube Music example, or say how the $8 million in royalties was divided among services and rights holders. It also does not detail how the forfeiture will be collected or whether any additional financial penalties were imposed beyond the order to give up the royalties.
The Justice Department’s figures describe its account of the scheme; the source material does not provide platform statements, a breakdown of the songs, or independent estimates of the total number of affected artists. No further court conditions or appeal details are included in the report.
music streaming fraud prevention devices
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Forfeiture and Sentence Ahead
Smith is to serve the 18-month prison sentence and forfeit the $8 million in royalties under the sentence announced by the Justice Department. The report does not give a prison reporting date or a schedule for payment or recovery of the funds.
Any further developments would likely come through court records or statements from prosecutors and affected music services. The source material does not announce additional charges, a broader investigation, or changes to streaming-platform policies.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
Who was sentenced in the music-streaming fraud case?
Michael Smith, a 54-year-old North Carolina musician, was sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
What was Smith’s sentence?
Smith received 18 months in prison and must forfeit $8 million in royalties, according to the Justice Department.
How did the scheme work?
Prosecutors said Smith created as many as 10,000 fraudulent accounts that automatically streamed songs he owned. The streams were spread across thousands of tracks to make the activity less conspicuous, the government said.
How much music was involved?
The Justice Department said Smith’s accounts streamed hundreds of thousands of songs, many made using AI, billions of times. It cited 80.9 million streams on YouTube Music in April 2023 as one example.
When did the scheme take place?
According to the Justice Department, the activity ran from 2017 until Smith’s arrest in 2024. He pleaded guilty in March, before the sentence was announced on October 6.
Source: hn
Halloween Picks
halloween
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
