A North Carolina man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison

A man from North Carolina has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to repay $8.1 million following his conviction for orchestrating a criminal scheme involving AI-generated music and bot-driven streaming fraud. The 54-year-old pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after uploading thousands of AI-generated songs to streaming platforms, which were then played billions of times through bot accounts. The scheme, active between 2017 and 2024, saw the defendant amass approximately $8 million in royalties by using up to 10,000 bot accounts simultaneously, creating fake email addresses and illegally obtained debit cards to establish accounts on streaming services. According to the Justice Department, his AI-generated tracks accumulated over 80.9 billion combined streams on YouTube Music within a single month, a figure nearly ten times higher than Taylor Swift's streaming statistics during the same period. The case marks the first criminal bot streaming fraud case on record, with the defendant also required to serve two years of supervised release. This development comes amid growing concerns about AI-generated music in the industry, as evidenced by recent lawsuits against AI platforms like Suno, which faced a copyright infringement case from German licensing agency GEMA. Additionally, streaming platform Deezer reported that AI-generated music now accounts for over 50% of daily uploads, surpassing human-made music for the first time, with studies indicating that 97% of people cannot distinguish between real and AI-generated music.

Sony Music Demands Removal of Unauthorized AI Tracks A recent report published by the Financial Times reveals that Sony Music has formally demanded digital streaming platforms remove over 260,000 artificial intelligence-generated tracks that impersonate its roster of artists. The Escalating Deepfake Crisis Regarding the sheer volume, Sony Music Entertainment mandated the removal of these unauthorized compositions by the end of September.

Michael Smith, a North Carolina man who used artificial intelligence to create thousands of fake songs and bot accounts to generate billions of fraudulent streams, faces federal sentencing on October 6. Prosecutors are seeking 46 months in prison for

AI-fuelled streaming fraud, exemplified by Michael Smith, exploits vulnerabilities in the current pro-rata royalty system, draining income from genuine musicians worldwide. Structural reform—like user-centric models—may curb the industry's most insidious theft. #AIinMusic #StreamingFraud #HumanInTheLoop

A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to using AI-generated music and bot accounts to steal over $8 million in streaming royalties from legitimate artists.

Spotify removed over 500,000 fake streams from Malcolm Todd’s “Earrings,” raising new concerns over streaming fraud, charts and indie artists.

Independent artists often face unfair track removals due to false streaming fraud accusations. Discover why algorithms misfire and how platforms should fix the issue.

Artists like Hiatus Kaiyote urge Spotify to act against AI-generated music fraud, demanding verified authenticity to protect real creators.

“That was upsetting to me, because if you have ears, you can definitely hear it’s not our music.”

YouTube video by BBC World Service

Deezer Becomes First Streaming Platform to Tag AI-Generated Music for Transparency PARIS – June 20, 2025 — In a bold