A federal judge has sentenced Michael Smith to 18 months in prison in a music-streaming fraud case built around bots and AI-generated songs. Billboard and Rolling Stone both report that Smith was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on October 6. The term will be followed by two years of supervised release, and Smith had already agreed to forfeit more than $8 million as part of his plea deal.
The case matters because it moved from an allegation about manipulated plays to a criminal sentence. Billboard described it as the first criminal case over music streaming fraud, while Rolling Stone called Smith the first person to face federal charges tied to that conduct. In March, Smith pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carried a maximum five-year sentence.
Prosecutors had alleged that Smith used thousands of bots to repeatedly stream music across services including Spotify and Apple Music from 2017 onward. The reports say he first boosted music associated with himself before using AI-generated songs to fuel the operation. The guilty plea resolves the wire-fraud conspiracy charge; the earlier account of how the scheme developed remains prosecutors' allegation as reported by both outlets.
The sentence fell below the 46 months sought by prosecutors and above the no-prison outcome requested by Smith's lawyers. Billboard reports that federal sentencing guidelines called for 46 to 57 months and that probation officials had recommended 24 months. Rolling Stone says Smith's defence sought probation, arguing that calculating harm across the wider royalty pool was difficult and that structural reforms were needed to deter fraud.
Prosecutors took the opposite view. In Billboard's account, Manhattan prosecutor Jamie McDonald said the scheme used automated bots in place of listeners and fake songs in place of creativity, diverting royalty payments from genuine artists and fans. Rolling Stone reported that prosecutors argued a lighter sentence would send the wrong message about punishment for streaming fraud. Those are prosecutorial arguments, not a court finding on every claimed industry effect.
Smith addressed the court before sentencing, according to Rolling Stone, saying he had turned his interest in music into a "perverse business model." The report says his lawyer also pointed to the lack of specific anti-bot language in some platform terms when the conduct began, while acknowledging that Smith made false statements to distributors that raised concerns about manipulation.
The reports also make clear that one sentencing does not settle the broader problem. Billboard quoted the Music Fights Fraud Alliance saying it would take more than one case to stop streaming fraud and calling for continued work by industry stakeholders, law enforcement and policymakers. That is an advocacy group's position, but it reflects the narrow reach of a single prosecution.
What the court has established is more concrete: a defendant who pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy has received a prison sentence, supervised release and an $8 million-plus forfeiture agreement. The case gives the industry a criminal-law reference point in a debate often framed around platform enforcement, royalties and AI. It does not, on the available reporting, set out a complete remedy for manipulated streaming.
Read more on Hitboard Music.