In a mind-blowing scheme straight out of a sci-fi movie, a North Carolina man, Michael Smith, allegedly made $10 million by creating fake AI-generated bands and using bots to listen to their music on repeat! 🎶🤖 The 52-year-old musician has now been arrested and is facing serious federal charges—think money laundering, wire fraud, and up to 20 years in prison per charge. 😳💼
🎶 The Crazy AI Music Scam 🎶💻
Here’s where it gets even wilder: Smith wasn’t working alone. According to the Department of Justice, he teamed up with two accomplices—a music promoter and the CEO of an AI music company. Together, they created hundreds of thousands of songs, using AI to churn out tunes in bulk. 🚀🎧
But wait—there’s more! Instead of promoting real music, Smith allegedly used automation and bot farms to fake the streams of these AI tracks. Think about it: millions, even billions of fake listens, all racking up royalties on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and more! 💸💥
The goal? Cash in on streaming royalties while real musicians struggle to get a fraction of those plays. 🎤💀
🕵️♂️ Behind the Scenes: “We Need a TON of Songs FAST!” 🏃♂️
Emails from late 2018 between Smith and his partners show just how desperate they were to crank out songs quickly and outsmart anti-fraud measures. Smith wrote, “We need to get a TON of songs fast, to make this work around the anti-fraud policies these guys are all using now.” 🤯🚨
The CEO of the AI music company even admitted in an email that they were making what he called “instant music”, not real songs! 🎶📉 He sent Smith files with bizarre names like “n_7a2b2d74-1621-4385-895d-b1e4af78d860.mp3″—yeah, real catchy, right? 😆
🎵 Fake Bands, Weird Names, Real Money 💸💥
When Smith uploaded these AI-generated tracks to streaming platforms, he gave them ridiculous names like “Zygotes,” “Calypso Xored,” and “Calms Scorching.” The fake artist names were just as strange: think “Calvin Mann” or “Calorie Event.” 🧐😂
To make it even more absurd, he then used bots to stream these fake songs billions of times—without a single human listening! 🚀🎧 The fake streams got converted into real royalty payments, sending stacks of cash straight into Smith’s bank account. 🤑💵
🧑⚖️ Busted! Smith’s Epic Denial 😅
Even though the feds have a mountain of evidence, Smith is still denying everything. In a statement, he called the charges “absolutely wrong and crazy!” and insisted, “There is absolutely no fraud going on whatsoever!” 🤔
He even asked, “How can I appeal this?”—as if the $10 million in fake royalties wasn’t a big red flag! 🚩💸
🤖 The Impact on Real Artists 🎤💔
While Smith was living the high life thanks to his AI-bot empire, real musicians are left in the dust. 🎸💔 In a world where every stream counts, using bots to fake numbers is like stealing money from hardworking artists who actually put their hearts into their music. 🎶
Stay tuned for more on this crazy AI music scam! Will Smith face the music? Or will this be just the beginning of AI-driven fraud in the entertainment industry? 🎤🚨
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