​Musician accused of using bots to generate over $10 million in streaming revenue

A North Carolina musician has been indicted for allegedly using AI bots to generate more than $10 million in music streaming revenue.

According to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Michael Smith was indicted in connection with “a scheme to create hundreds of thousands of songs with artificial intelligence”, as well as using bots to “stream the AI-generated songs billions of times".

Smith was accused of using as many as 10,000 bot accounts to stream tracks made using AI, alleged to have been provided to Smith via a partnership with the CEO of an anonymous AI music company.

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The accused is alleged to have been supplied with thousands of tracks a month, dubbed “instant music” by the unnamed Chief Executive, which Smith then exchanged for streaming revenue and metadata.

Smith was arrested on September 4, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York confirmed. He will appear before a US Magistrate Judge in North Carolina.

“As alleged, Michael Smith fraudulently streamed songs created with artificial intelligence billions of times in order to steal royalties,” says US Attorney Damian Williams.

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“Through his brazen fraud scheme, Smith stole millions in royalties that should have been paid to musicians, songwriters, and other rights holders whose songs were legitimately streamed. Today, thanks to the work of the FBI and the career prosecutors of this Office, it’s time for Smith to face the music.”

The “landmark” case is said to be the first of its kind to look at artificially inflated streaming, which could land Smith in jail for “decades” if found guilty, according to the BBC.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter.