Feds say it's the first US criminal case involving artificially inflated music streaming.

I am just impressed by the idea and execution. Just wow. Too bad he took it too far.

  • powerofm@lemmy.caEnglish
    611·
    2 months ago

    Definitely an abuse of the system, but I’m struggling to see where criminal law says you can’t make a bunch of fake accounts to listen to garbage music.

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      303·
      2 months ago

      In agreeing to be paid by music streaming platforms they almost certainly agreed not to do exactly this. Which makes it fraud.

    • Gamma@beehaw.orgEnglish
      16·
      2 months ago

      From justice.gov:

      SMITH, 52, of Cornelius, North Carolina, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

  • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.comEnglish
    51·
    2 months ago

    In a 2017 email to himself, Smith calculated that he could stream his songs 661,440 times daily, potentially earning $3,307.20 per day and up to $1.2 million annually.

    Great idea, but why would you email yourself about it?

    • veee@lemmy.caEnglish
      281·
      2 months ago

      I have a friend that I’ve tried to convince using a notes app, but he swears that emailing himself notes and to-do lists is more effective. He’s wrong, but to each their own.

      • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.comEnglish
        10·
        2 months ago

        Oh, sure. I get that. Sending yourself reminders is absolutely understandable. Sending yourself documented evidence of your plans to defraud someone is entirely different.

        • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          Recently, a bunch of people on tik tok found this “bug” in their banking app where you can write a bad check, then withdraw the funds before it clears… Then started crying about it when their balances updated

          Dude definitely thought he discovered a cool new life hack

      • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nlEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        Google keep used to (don’t use it anymore) store your notes “backed up” by email. You could view all your notes in gmail.

        Maybe it was something like that?

        • veee@lemmy.caEnglish
          4·
          2 months ago

          I can definitely follow his logic, but there are better tools available.

  • sneak100 [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    421·
    2 months ago

    So when rich people do this it’s called “innovative” and “disrupting the market”, but if you do it FBI busts down your door for being a criminal. Sounds like freedom to me jack

  • Case@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    I’ve thought of this, but don’t have the wherewithal to actually make a project come to fruition.

    I’m also not a lawyer, but I’ve read multiple articles on this, and it doesn’t seem like any legal violation. Corporation got lazy, didn’t confirm where 10m in royalties went and under what circumstance, and got burned.

    Finally a corp gets scammed by the common man.

    I say good on him.