Musician Pleads Guilty to Millions in Streaming Royalty Fraud Using AI

Musician Michael Smith pleaded guilty to fraudulently collecting more than $10 million in streaming royalties using AI-generated tracks and fake streams. He used automated bots and VPNs to inflate billions of plays across Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music from 2017 to 2024.

Part of the PlainSec briefing for 2026-03-23

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