Allegations of Music Streaming Fraud

Michael Smith was charged with orchestrating a complex scheme that leveraged AI-generated music and a botnet to inflate music streaming numbers. By using 52 cloud service accounts each running multiple bots, he allegedly created a network capable of generating over 4 billion fake music streams. His business model projected substantial earnings from streaming royalties, which initially seemed reasonable, with Smith reportedly earning substantial monthly sums by 2019. The entire fraud was notable for being the first U.S. criminal case involving artificially inflated music streaming, drawing attention to the exploitation of the music industry through technology.