Michael Smith gets 18 months for a $10 million streaming fraud scheme
The case shows how AI-generated music, bots and VPNs were used to game streaming payouts across major platforms.
A North Carolina musician, Michael Smith, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after admitting he helped run a streaming royalty fraud that generated more than $10 million from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. Prosecutors said he used AI-generated tracks, bot accounts, and VPNs to inflate plays from 2017 through 2024, with the operation at one point relying on more than 1,000 bots. Court records also say Smith described the scheme as producing over 4 billion streams and $12 million in royalties since 2019. He must also forfeit $8,091,843.64 and will serve two years of supervised release.
Why it matters
The sentence makes clear that streaming fraud at scale can lead to prison time, forfeiture and supervised release, not just account bans or payment clawbacks. It also shows how automated abuse can distort royalty systems over several years and across multiple services, affecting how platforms and rights holders treat suspicious streams.
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Sources
- BleepingComputer