Last week, Michael Smith entered a guilty plea in connection with an extensive scheme involving the creation of hundreds of thousands of AI-generated musical tracks. He subsequently utilized automated bots to stream these songs "billions" of times, fraudulently inflating their play counts.
This illicit operation enabled Smith to accrue over $8 million in royalties, as confirmed by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The case underscores a significant instance of digital manipulation aimed at financial exploitation within the music streaming ecosystem.
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