Cornelius Man Charged For Music Streaming Fraud Scheme Powered By AI

CORNELIUS, N.C. – A Cornelius man is facing charges for creating a fraudulent scheme where “bots” would stream AI-generated songs, giving him over $10 million in royalty payments, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Michael Smith, 51, is accused of creating thousands of “bot accounts” on various music streaming platforms that would stream songs. 

Smith got in touch with an AI music company that created hundreds of thousands of songs using artificial intelligence so that he could stream them fraudulently.

At a certain point, Smith’s bot accounts would stream 661,440 total song plays per day, generating approximately $1,207,128 in annual royalties. The scheme allowed him to fraudulently obtain more than $10 million in royalties.

Smith allegedly deceived the streaming platforms by making it appear that actual users were in control of the bot accounts. When in actuality, the accounts were coded to stream Smith’s songs billions of times.

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

Smith is being charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.