AI Music Streaming Fraudster Sentenced to 1.5 Years in Prison for $8M Royalties Scam

Michael Smith admitted earlier this year to using bots to stream fake songs billions of times in a first-ever criminal case over streaming fraud. In this photo illustration, a Spotify app, Apple Music app and Deezer app are seen displayed on a smartphone. Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Trending on Billboard A man who used AI songs to steal millions in music royalties has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, capping off the first-ever criminal case over streaming fraud. Michael Smith, 54, pleaded guilty in March to using AI to generate thousands of songs and then streaming them billions of times with bots, generating more than $8 million in royalties. His was the first criminal conviction over a tricky problem that’s plagued the music industry for years. Related Ahead of sentencing, his lawyers had asked the judge for no prison time, arguing the harm to any single artist was “insignificant” and “no victim suffered any real harm.” But at a hearing on Tuesday (Oct. 6) in Manhattan federal court, Judge John G. Koeltl ordered him to serve a year and a half in jail, followed by two years of supervised release. Jamie McDonald, the Manhattan
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