American musician Mike Smith sentenced to 18 months in pr!son for using bots to stream AI-generated songs, earning $8 million

American musician Mike Smith has been sentenced to 18 months in pr!son for using bots to artificially inflate music streams and collect millions of dollars in royalties.

Smith was sentenced by a federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, October 6, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fr@ud in March.

Prosecutors said he used automated bots between 2017 and 2024 to generate millions of artificial streams. He also used the technology to boost songs created with artificial intelligence, earning approximately $8 million in royalties.

As part of his plea agreement, Smith agreed to forfeit $8 million. He will also serve two years of supervised release after completing his pr!son sentence.

During sentencing, the father of six became emotional and admitted that his actions had betrayed the music community.

“By committing this cr!me, I have failed miserably,” he told the court.

Prosecutors had requested a 46-month pr!son sentence, while his lawyers appealed for probation. The judge eventually sentenced him to 18 months behind bars.