in North Carolina Rob Smit A named man received millions in payments from major music platforms for music that no one actually listened to. According to the indictment filed by prosecutors investigating the incident, Smith Spotify and Apple Music He managed to deceive platforms, for example by paying royalties.

This is evident from a statement from the US Department of Justice Smithwas arrested Wednesday and charged with fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to the indictment, with this method Smith over $10 million made a profit.

It was the first of its kind

It is said Smithhad his songs written by artificial intelligence and then played those songs to bots using fake accounts. According to the indictment, Smith acted in consultation with the CEO of an artificial intelligence startup and produced thousands of fake songs that he listened to from thousands of fake accounts in order to circumvent the platforms’ algorithms. While the song and artist names are also randomly generated, Smith’s revenue versus 15% It was said that he bought the songs.

According to the information in the file, the song names include: “Zygophyceae,It was claimed that there were names such as “Zygophyllaceae,” “Zygophyllum,” “Zygopteraceae,” “Zygopteris,” “Zygopteron,” “Zygopterous,” and “Zygotic Washstands.”

On the other hand, it was alleged that Smith had been accused of fraud in the past by a distribution company, but Smith denied these allegations. Prosecutors are now leaving court up to 60 years demands punishment.