A man admitted to illegally increasing the number of streams for songs created by artificial intelligence. He used over 1,000 automated programs (bots) to do this, and as a result, made millions of dollars.
Artists on music streaming services earn money based on how many times their songs are played. For instance, Spotify reportedly pays between $0.003 and $0.005 for each stream. While that amount seems small, it can add up to a significant income when a song is streamed millions of times.
So, I was reading about this crazy thing – apparently, a 52-year-old guy named Michael Smith was running a whole operation for seven years. He was basically boosting streams for artists, but here’s the catch: these weren’t real people! They were AI-generated artists, and all the money from those streams was going right back to him. It’s wild how far people will go for a quick buck, even with AI involved!
According to the Department of Justice, Smith used over a thousand automated bots and generated more than eight million dollars in revenue. He has admitted guilt and could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Man faces jail time for boosting streams on AI-generated songs
According to the Department of Justice, a resident of North Carolina ran this operation from 2017 to 2024. He artificially increased the number of plays on popular streaming services like Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and YouTube.
Instead of promoting just a few songs, Smith allegedly collaborated with others to create hundreds of thousands of songs using artificial intelligence. They then increased the number of plays on these tracks, making the manipulation more difficult to identify.
According to US Attorney Jay Clayton, Michael Smith created thousands of artificial intelligence-generated songs and then artificially inflated their streaming numbers into the billions.
The operation used a total of 52 cloud accounts, each running 20 automated programs, or bots. This meant there were 1,040 bots working together, capable of playing up to 636 songs daily, based on Smith’s estimates. This adds up to over 661,000 streams each day.
Based on his calculations, Smith could have earned as much as $3,307 daily, or around $1.2 million annually, if he received a half-cent royalty for each stream.
According to the DOJ, Smith had obtained more than eight million dollars in royalties.
On March 19, 2026, the Department of Justice announced that Smith had admitted guilt to conspiring to commit wire fraud.
Smith will be sentenced on July 29, 2026, and could face up to five years in prison. He has already agreed to give up $8,091,843.64.
Clayton explained that while the streams and fans were fabricated, the money Smith stole – millions of dollars in royalties – was genuine. This money should have gone to the actual artists and copyright owners who deserved it.
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2026-03-24 06:19