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Music industry welcomes eighteen month prison sentence for streaming fraudster | by Chris Cooke | Oct 8, 2026 | COMPLETE MUSIC UPDATE 3 min. read
US streaming fraudster Michael Smith has been sentenced to eighteen months in jail. Although prosecutors were pushing for something closer to four years, the custodial sentence is significant, and has been welcomed by the music industry which wants stronger deterrents against streaming fraud
The music industry has welcomed the imprisonment of Michael Smith, the streaming fraudster who made millions by uploading AI-generated tracks to digital music platforms and then artificially boosting streams of that music.
It’s the first conviction of a streaming fraudster in the US and one of the first worldwide. He was yesterday sentenced to eighteen months in prison. Although prosecutors were pushing for a custodial sentence closer to four years, it’s still significant that Smith will serve jail time.
Music industry ...