Man Made $10 Million From AI Music, Arrested For Money Laundering And Fraud

If you’re thinking about creating creepy AI-generated music and trying to monetize it through streaming services, look no further than a 52-year-old man from North Carolina Michael Smith. Smith created a whole boatload of AI-generated music, got a bunch of fraudulent streams that netted him $10 million, and now he’s facing some very serious jail time.

According to the message Futurism by indictment, Smith he was arrested and is currently facing three counts of money laundering and wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars. Smith Allegedly worked with an unnamed music promoter and CEO of music company AI on a seven-year scam, creating “hundreds of thousands of songs” which were then fraudulently streamed.

“We need to get a ton of songs fast to make it work around the anti-fraud policies these guys are all using now,” he wrote. Smith to his accused associates in late 2018.

AI songs have been called things like “Zyme Bedewing” and artists named “Zygotes”. Calvin Mann, Calypso Chored, A calorie eventand much more. So you know, the usual weird rabbit hole sounding names you come across when you delve a little deeper into a streaming service. The songs have been uploaded to services such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music and have earned a hefty salary.

What really seems like a joke, but isn’t, Smith he has since commented on his legal situation New York Times“This is absolutely wrong and crazy. There is absolutely no fraud going on. How can I appeal this?’

And you might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with metal? First of all, that’s the problem the genre is facing right now. Second, this is one that every person who loves music should care about. your favorite artists aren’t on streaming services (for the most part), but guys like this are out there eating up all the digital real estate and cashing in. big time… until they find out anyway.