In September last year, musician Mike Smith of North Carolina was charged with stealing millions from music streaming services.
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The US Department of Justice has accused him of using artificial intelligence tools and thousands of bots to fraudulently stream songs billions of times - taking millions of dollars of royalties which otherwise would have been paid to real artists.
Smith isn’t just a regular amateur musician. He’s collaborated with some huge artists – including Snoop Dogg, DJ Khaled and Billy Ray Cyrus. He’s also starred as a judge on One Shot, a hip-hop reality TV programme on the cable network BET (Black Entertainment Television). We speak to Jonathan Hay, a celebrity publicist and producer who says he was the first person to report Smith to the FBI, and from another colleague of Smith’s who has a very different view of the man.
The case has been labeled as ‘unprecedented’ and ‘the first of its kind’ in the press. We explore whether fraud on music streaming services actually be much more prevalent than any of the platforms let on.
00:00 Introduction
00:15 The case - who is Mike Smith and what is he accused of?
01:05 How does getting paid from music streaming work?
02:52 Jonathan Hay interview - the man who reported his partner for music streaming fraud
05:44 Goldy Locks interview - who questions if streaming fraud is a big deal
07:32 Andrew Batey interview - how the Mike Smith case can impact music streaming
08:22 So what now?
Reporter/Producer: Beth Godwin
Producer/Director: Omar Mehtab
Film Editor: Carel Nell
Executive Producer/Editor: Flora Carmichael
Senior Editor: Finlo Rohrer
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