Fake Songs and Fake Listeners

[bayswater]

Maybe some saw this in the NYT this morning.

“North Carolina Man Charged With Using AI to Win Music Royalties - The New York Times”

He used AI to make fake songs, put them on streaming services, and then programmed computers to stream them and made $10M.

His defence: “This is absolutely wrong and crazy!,” he said. “There is absolutely no fraud going on whatsoever! How can I appeal this?”

[James Steele]

Here’s a link to where I saw it:

https://www.musicradar.com/music-indust ... ming-fraud

[mikehalloran]

Can't copyright AI.

Oooops.

[HCMarkus]

May turn out to be a fake $10m for the defendant, unless he has the money squirreled away offshore.

[James Steele]

I guess one point they made in the second article is the guy didn’t just rip off Spotify, but basically because the royalties are divided up among small the artists, he basically ripped off all the legit artists on the platform as their share was reduced to pay him.

[bayswater]

I’m not familiar with Spotify’s terms of service, but is it clear that he ripped them off (legally) rather than finding a hole in their business model?

There are so many interesting questions coming out of this. Maybe some precedents will be established. Can a bot listen to music and general royalties for the artist? Do AI engines absorb music and not pay for it? What about Commander Data? What if he used Spotify? Could he be charged for it if AI engines are not? What about Ray Kurzweil downloads?

And maybe there has to be something defined about who can be an artist, and how much of a song has to be from AI before it’s not a human that composed it. Or whether that matters.

Could the music business end up being where we define the legal difference between artificial and real intelligence?

[James Steele]

I’m not familiar with Spotify’s terms of service, but is it clear that he ripped them off (legally) rather than finding a hole in their business model?

There are so many interesting questions coming out of this. Maybe some precedents will be established. Can a bot listen to music and general royalties for the artist? Do AI engines absorb music and not pay for it? What about Commander Data? What if he used Spotify? Could he be charged for it if AI engines are not? What about Ray Kurzweil downloads?

And maybe there has to be something defined about who can be an artist, and how much of a song has to be from AI before it’s not a human that composed it. Or whether that matters.

Could the music business end up being where we define the legal difference between artificial and real intelligence?

Well, FWIW, he was involved in a conspiracy technically. From the article:

In tandem with the CEO of an unnamed AI music company, he constructed a scheme whereby the CEO would release thousands of AI-generated songs each month in return for 15% of the takings. In Smith’s own estimation, by February of this year the scheme had netted over $12 million in royalties from over 4 billion streams.

I can't imagine that streams "listened to" by nobody, and generated by fake accounts isn't fraudulent in the terms of service of the streaming service... at least I'd suspect the streaming service could sue civilly for the return of the funds, etc.? Perhaps it might not be a criminal matter?

[bayswater]

I can't imagine that streams "listened to" by nobody, and generated by fake accounts isn't fraudulent in the terms of service of the streaming service... at least I'd suspect the streaming service could sue civilly for the return of the funds, etc.? Perhaps it might not be a criminal matter?

It would be too bad if they just nail him on conspiracy to defraud. There are so many issues that could be addressed with this case.

Anyway, if convicted, he should be sentenced to perform improvised musical compositions at Open Mic night at seedy bars for twenty years (sans computer).

[James Steele]

Anyway, if convicted, he should be sentenced to perform improvised musical compositions at Open Mic night at seedy bars for twenty years (sans computer).

Doesn't that violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment?

[mhschmieder]

Doesn't that violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment?

You are referring, of course, to cruel and unusual punishment of the clientele, not the defendant, correct?

[bayswater]

Doesn't that violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment?

You are referring, of course, to cruel and unusual punishment of the clientele, not the defendant, correct?

No, the punishment is the beer glasses the clientele hurl at the convict. And there is the possibility of rehabilitation if he learns to compose good music.

[James Steele]

Doesn't that violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment?

You are referring, of course, to cruel and unusual punishment of the clientele, not the defendant, correct?

No, the punishment is the beer glasses the clientele hurl at the convict. And there is the possibility of rehabilitation if he learns to compose good music.

Either way, if it's like the bars my old cover band played, you're also making less per band member per night than the waitresses.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Anyway, if convicted, he should be sentenced to perform improvised musical compositions at Open Mic night at seedy bars for twenty years (sans computer).

Why punish an audience?

[bayswater]

Anyway, if convicted, he should be sentenced to perform improvised musical compositions at Open Mic night at seedy bars for twenty years (sans computer).

Why punish an audience?

I like to spread the pain.