# Fraud of Tens of Millions in Royalties! American Man Pleads Guilty in Federal Court for Mass-Producing Songs with AI and Manipulating Bots to Game Charts

According to the latest announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, a man from North Carolina, Michael Smith, has officially pleaded guilty today (19th). Over the past few years, he used artificial intelligence (AI) to generate hundreds of thousands of fake songs and employed automated bots to inflate streaming counts on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, racking up billions of plays to fraudulently collect tens of millions of dollars in royalties. This case is not only the first federal criminal conviction worldwide for AI music streaming fraud but also highlights the serious threats posed by technology abuse to the music industry.

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The widespread adoption of AI technology has brought about a creative revolution but also spawned new forms of digital crime. According to a recent press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Southern District of New York issued on March 19, Michael Smith from North Carolina has pleaded guilty before federal Judge John G. Koeltl to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

AI-generated fake songs, robot armies working around the clock to manipulate charts

The operation of this sophisticated scam is astonishing. Court documents and prosecutors’ statements reveal that Smith’s criminal methods mainly involved the following core steps:

• Mass production of AI songs: Smith used AI technology to automatically generate hundreds of thousands of low-quality music tracks. To hide their artificial nature, he also randomly named these virtual artists and tracks, such as “Zygophyceae” or “Calliope Bloom.”
• Building a large network of bots: He registered thousands of “bot accounts” on major streaming platforms like Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music.
• Distributing plays to evade detection: To prevent abnormal spikes in play counts from triggering anti-fraud alerts, Smith used automation software to evenly distribute the massive number of plays across thousands of AI songs, attempting to mimic genuine listener behavior.

Siphoning tens of millions of dollars, facing up to 20 years in prison

Through this automated system, Smith’s army of bots played these AI-generated “fake music” billions of times. U.S. Southern District of New York Federal Prosecutor Jay Clayton harshly condemned the behavior:

“Michael Smith used AI to generate thousands of fake songs and played them billions of times. Although the songs and listeners are fake, the millions of dollars he stole are real.”

Prosecutors pointed out that streaming royalties are typically distributed via a “pool” proportional system. Therefore, the over $10 million Smith fraudulently obtained with false data effectively deprived legitimate, talented music creators and rights holders of their rightful income.

With Smith’s guilty plea, this “century’s digital click fraud scheme” has finally come to an end. Under U.S. federal law, conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. This case also serves as a wake-up call for global music streaming giants, who will likely implement stricter AI and bot defense mechanisms in the future to protect the rights of genuine creators.