Advocacy Group Asserts to Have Scraped Countless of Music Files from the Streaming Giant

An activist group has claimed to have harvested millions of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them online.

Possible Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Training

Observers said the seeming leak could aid AI companies searching for data to train their technology.

An entity called Anna’s Archive reported it had obtained 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million entries of associated data such as artist and record 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 malicious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” said a Spotify spokesperson.

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, added that an inquiry into unauthorized access identified a third party collected public metadata and employed illicit tactics to circumvent DRM protections.

Archive's Stated Goal and Concerns

Spotify does not think the music acquired by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for offering links to copyright-infringing books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

They claimed the audio files represented 99.6% of all music streamed to by Spotify users and would be distributed via ‘torrents’, a method of exchanging large digital files online.

“Of course the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” said Anna’s Archive, which describes its purpose as “preserving humanity’s information and heritage”.

AI Training and Copyright Battleground

A composer and campaigner for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the breached music would probably be utilized for developing AI models.

“Training on illegally sourced material is sadly common in the tech sector, so this accessed music is almost certain to end up training AI models,” he stated.

The group's website alludes to a large online archive, a huge online repository of copyrighted books that has reportedly been leveraged by the parent company of Facebook to develop its systems.

The co-founder of an AI startup wrote on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “create their own private free version of the service”. The executive added it could also allow technology firms to “train on modern music at a large volume”.

Copyright has emerged as a battleground between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.

Government Proposals and Responses

In the UK, artists and writers have protested against a government proposal to allow AI companies utilize protected work without permission unless the rights holder signals. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ apprehensions.

A government minister for technology, research and development informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, noting that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The administration has committed to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.