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Man Arrested for Creating Fake Bands With AI, Then Making $10 Million by Listening to Their Songs With Bots (futurism.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology
229 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The songs that the AI CEO provided to Smith originally had file names full of randomized numbers and letters such as "n_7a2b2d74-1621-4385-895d-b1e4af78d860.mp3," the DOJ noted in its detailed press release.

When uploading them to streaming platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music, the man would then change the songs' names to words like "Zygotes," "Zygotic," and "Zyme Bedewing," whatever that is.

The artist naming convention also followed a somewhat similar pattern, with names ranging from the normal-sounding "Calvin Mann" to head-scratchers like "Calorie Event," "Calms Scorching," and "Calypso Xored."

To manufacture streams for these fake songs, Smith allegedly used bots that stream the songs billions of times without any real person listening. As with similar schemes, the bots' meaningless streams were ultimately converted to royalty paychecks for the people behind them.

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[–] LordWiggle 17 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I thought the same, but it's at the cost of real artists who are struggling to survive in a harsh market, so it still hurts. Sadly, this man isn't unique. There are many Spotify listening farms listening to fake artists with AI generated songs just over 30sec which is the minimal listening requirement to get payed. And Spotify does nothing, as they get more money too.

I can appreciate a well performed scheme or crime, but only if it steals from the rich and big corps. In this case, it steals from honest artists who give us amazing music while mostly being under paid on a regular basis, with the exception here and there.

Stealing from the poor is really low. Only the biggest assholes are capable of doing that. (looks at all the billionaires)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Ah. I thought this was an isolated incident. I understand, and agree with, your point.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You don't need those commas in that sentence. It makes you sound like Christopher Walken 😅

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription, is more cowbell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

When I first read your comment about this scheme keeping money from artists I was skeptical. But, yup! It is right there on Spotify's website:

We distribute the net revenue from Premium subscription fees and ads to rightsholders.

Now, granted a bunch of those "rightsholders" are likely big corporate record labels but your point stands. The little guy is getting screwed, too.

Though, adding to your final thought, I bet if it was only the little guy getting screwed and not the corpos I bet DOJ wouldn't have cared.

[–] LordWiggle 3 points 2 months ago

See this video for more info about these scams and how Spotify is enabling them and protects them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I think you're confused about who got hurt by the scheme. Billion dollar streaming platforms fucking over artists don't need to be defended.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Who's defending the streaming platforms?

[–] LordWiggle 5 points 2 months ago

If you read my comment again, you can see I noted that Spotify is in on it. They profit too from these schemes. All those bots listening to 30sec AI songs playlists are running on Spotify premium accounts so Spotify won't do anything to fight fraud. They take 30%.

I never defended any platform, I only defended the artists. So I guess the confused one is you, my friend.