Michael Smith pleads guilty to stealing $8 million from artists using AI-generated songs and bot accounts to manipulate streaming platforms.
Michael Smith stole millions from real artists by flooding streaming platforms with AI-generated fake songs and bot accounts that played them billions of times.
The 54-year-old from Cornelius, North Carolina, just pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and the numbers behind his scheme are absolutely wild.
Here’s how the scam worked: instead of concentrating all the fake streams on a single song, which would’ve triggered red flags from the platforms,
Smith spread his bot activity across thousands of songs to stay under the radar.
The platforms pay out royalties proportionally from a shared pool, so every fraudulent stream he generated directly diverted money that should’ve gone to legitimate artists and songwriters.
According to the Department of Justice, his bot accounts streamed his AI-generated songs billions of times, allowing him to fraudulently pocket more than $8 million in royalties.
The federal government called this the first major case of its kind in the country, and it’s a wake-up call for how AI and automation can be weaponized against the music industry.
Smith’s scheme specifically targeted the royalty system that’s supposed to protect independent artists and creators. The music industry has been grappling with streaming fraud for years, but this case shows how technology can exponentially amplify the problem.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton made it clear this wasn’t some victimless crime.
“Although the songs and listeners were fake, the millions of dollars Smith stole was real,” Clayton said. “Millions of dollars in royalties that Smith diverted from real, deserving artists and rights holders.”
Smith agreed to forfeit $8,091,843.64 and faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced on July 29, 2026.
This article was originally published on allhiphop.com.
