BBC Trending: The dark side of music streaming

BBC趋势:音乐流的阴暗面

The Documentary Podcast

社会与文化

2025-02-05

17 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

In September last year, musician Michael Smith of North Carolina was charged with stealing millions from music streaming services. 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. The case has been labelled as ‘unprecedented’ and ‘the first of its kind’. But could fraud on music streaming services actually be much more prevalent than any of the platforms let on? BBC Trending speaks to music industry insiders, and those fighting back against streaming fraud.
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

  • For every five nasal scents we have.

  • Dogs have 2,500 unexpected elements from the BBC World Service.

  • Search for unexpected elements wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

  • It's early autumn in the affluent neighborhood of Cornelius, North Carolina.

  • The luxury suburb lies along the shores of the pristine Lake Norman,

  • where people can often be found sailing and wakeboarding on the water.

  • On 4 September last year, an FBI raid in the early hours of the morning stunned the picturesque community.

  • Local resident Mike Smith was led out of his house in handcuffs.

  • FBI agents raided a Cornelius Mann's home.

  • He's a musician now, facing serious charges,

  • accused of using AI to create and stream music and illegally collect more than $10 million in royalties.

  • I heard that they just barreled through his house and, like, trashed it.

  • Mike Smith seemed to have it all.

  • His post, with 124,000 followers on Instagram,

  • highlighted his family life

  • and successful music career with his profile bio proclaiming number one Billboard charting recording artist.

  • You're actually listening to one of his tracks, Hard Working man, as I speak.

  • But now he could be facing up to 60 years behind bars.

  • I was so surprised by the scale, I was shocked.