An American singer-songwriter has scammed more than eight million dollars to streaming platforms for generating songs with AI and with automated listening through bots.
Michael Smith has pleaded guilty to defrauding music streaming platforms for more than eight million dollars in royalties after flooding these services with thousands of songs generated by AIand later played by automated bots. This case becomes one of the first successful trials for fraud related to artificial intelligence in the music industry, an issue that has become controversial due to the rise of artists generated by this technology in the charts.
This scam started in 2017when Smith decided to use AI to his advantage and create thousands of songs to increase his financial profits through bots that played these songs non-stop, which until 2024 They have made him earn more than 8 million dollars. Finally, a New York court has accused him of stealing millions in royalties that should have been paid to musicians, songwriters and other rights holders whose songs were legitimately broadcast.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Michael Smith now faces a sentence of up to five years in prison and the confiscation of $8,091,843.64 when sentencing is handed down later this summer. This case highlights a growing problem for the music industry, while some platforms such as bandcamp They have already implemented measures and have prohibited its use in their catalog.
