Activist Collective Claims to Have Scraped Countless of Music Tracks from the Streaming Giant

A digital rights group has claimed to have harvested millions of songs from Spotify and is preparing to release them online.

Possible Boost for AI Training

Observers said the seeming leak could aid artificial intelligence firms looking for material to develop their technology.

An entity known as Anna’s Archive reported it had obtained 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million entries of associated data such as performer and album names. The company, which hosts more than 100 million tracks, stated that the breach did not represent its full inventory.

“We have identified and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that were involved in unlawful scraping,” stated a Spotify representative.

The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access found a third party collected public metadata and used questionable methods to circumvent DRM [digital rights management].

Archive's Declared Goal and Concerns

Spotify does not believe the audio acquired by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for providing links to pirated books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

The group claimed the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by Spotify users and would be distributed via ‘torrents’, a means of sharing large data files online.

“Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” said Anna’s Archive, which describes its mission as “safeguarding humanity’s information and culture”.

Model Development and Intellectual Property Debate

Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, remarked the breached music would probably be utilized for developing artificial intelligence systems.

“Educating models on pirated data is sadly common in the tech sector, so this accessed music is almost certain to be used instructing AI models,” he stated.

The Anna’s Archive site alludes to LibGen, a huge online archive of pirated books that has allegedly been used by the parent company of Facebook to develop its systems.

A founder of an AI startup wrote on the professional network that individuals of the public could in theory “build their own personal free version of Spotify”. The executive added it could also enable tech companies to “train on contemporary music at a large volume”.

Intellectual property law has become a key issue between artists, writers and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.

Policy Proposals and Responses

In the UK, artists and writers have raised concerns against a government proposal to let AI companies utilize protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ concerns.

The secretary of state for science, research and technology informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The administration has pledged to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.