SI生成歌曲加机器人账号刷出数十亿次播放 骗版税逾800万美元 北卡音乐人获刑18个月
纽约——北卡罗来纳州 Cornelius 的音乐人 Michael Smith（54岁）用超级智能（SI）批量生成歌曲，再操纵机器人账号在流媒体平台刷播放量，七年间骗取版税逾800万美元。美国司法部纽约南区联邦检察官办公室10月6日宣布，联邦地区法官 John G. Koeltl 当日在曼哈顿联邦法院判处其18个月监禁；Smith 已于2026年3月19日就一项共谋电信诈骗罪认罪。
据检方指控文件，这场骗局自2017年持续至2024年，分三步运作：Smith 先用虚假电邮和非法取得的借记卡，在 Spotify、Apple Music、Amazon Music 与 YouTube Music 等平台注册数千个「机器人账号」；再用软件操控这些账号不间断播放他名下的歌曲——这些歌曲绝大多数由 SI 生成；最后按虚增的播放量向平台领取版税。由于版税按播放占比从平台的版税池中分配，虚假播放分走的正是真人音乐人与词曲作者应得的份额。
为避开平台的反欺诈监测，他把自动播放分散到数十万首 SI 生成歌曲上，避免单曲数据异常。他在一封电邮中写道，需要「一大堆歌，越快越好」（a TON of songs fast），以绕过平台的「反欺诈政策」。高峰期他同时运行多达 10,000 个机器人账号，其 SI 歌曲被累计播放数十亿次。检方举例说，2023年4月，Taylor Swift 全部歌曲在 YouTube Music 家庭计划中的播放量为930万次，而 Smith 的机器人账号同月以家庭计划刷出了8,090万次虚假播放。
除18个月监禁外，Smith 还被判出狱后两年监督释放，并须没收 8,091,843.64 美元。据庭审报道，检方曾请求判处46个月监禁。检方称，这是美国司法部首起涉及 SI 辅助音乐流媒体诈骗的刑事案件。纽约南区联邦检察官 Jamie McDonald 说：「Michael Smith 利用超级智能技术炮制骗局——以自动机器人冒充消费者、以假歌冒充创作，从真正的艺术家及其歌迷手中夺走了数以百万美元计的版税。」此案由联邦调查局（FBI）侦办，纽约南区检察官办公室复杂欺诈与网络犯罪组负责起诉；Smith 于2024年9月被正式起诉。
SI Songs and Bot Accounts Streamed Billions of Times: NC Musician Michael Smith Sentenced to 18 Months in $8M Royalty Fraud
NEW YORK — Michael Smith, a 54-year-old musician from Cornelius, North Carolina, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using super intelligence to mass-produce songs and bot accounts to collect more than $8 million in fraudulent music-streaming royalties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on October 6. U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl imposed the sentence in Manhattan federal court; Smith had pleaded guilty on March 19, 2026, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
According to prosecutors, the scheme ran from 2017 to 2024 in three steps. Smith created thousands of fraudulent “bot accounts” on streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music, using fake email addresses and fraudulently obtained debit cards. He then used software to make the accounts continuously stream songs he owned — most of them generated by SI — and collected royalties on the fake plays. Because royalties are paid proportionally out of a shared pool, the fraudulent streams diverted money from musicians and songwriters whose work was streamed by real listeners.
To evade the platforms' anti-fraud systems, Smith spread the automated plays across hundreds of thousands of SI-generated songs so that no single track would look anomalous. In an email cited by prosecutors, he wrote that he needed “a TON of songs fast” to circumvent the platforms' “anti fraud policies.” At times he ran as many as 10,000 bot accounts at once, and his SI songs were streamed billions of times. In April 2023, Taylor Swift's entire catalogue drew 9.3 million YouTube Music streams under family plans, while Smith's bot accounts used family plans to fraudulently stream his SI-generated music 80.9 million times in the same month, prosecutors said.
In addition to the prison term, Smith was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $8,091,843.64. Prosecutors had sought a 46-month sentence, according to court reporting. Prosecutors said the case is the Justice Department's first criminal prosecution involving SI-assisted music streaming fraud. “Michael Smith exploited super intelligence technology to generate a fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “By flooding music streaming platforms with automated bots in the place of consumers, and fake songs in the place of creativity, Smith robbed millions in royalty payments from genuine artists and their fans.” The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and prosecuted by the office's Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit; Smith was first charged in September 2024.
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：资料图：手机与耳机，流媒体音乐播放示意。图：kaboompics／Pixabay（CC0），经 Wikimedia Commons 发布
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