Activist Group Claims to Have Scraped Millions of Music Files from the Streaming Giant

A digital rights organization has claimed to have scraped millions of songs from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them publicly.

Possible Boost for Artificial Intelligence Training

Observers said the apparent leak could boost artificial intelligence firms looking for data to develop their technology.

An entity called Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million entries of metadata such as performer and record names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the breach did not represent its full inventory.

“We have identified and deactivated the malicious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” said a Spotify spokesperson.

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorized access found a third party scraped public metadata and used illicit tactics to circumvent DRM [digital rights management].

Group's Stated Goal and Concerns

Spotify does not believe the audio taken by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for providing links to copyright-infringing books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music.

They claimed the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be distributed via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of sharing large digital files online.

“Naturally the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic start,” said Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and culture”.

AI Training and Intellectual Property Debate

Ed Newton-Rex for defending artists’ copyright, said the breached music would probably be used for training AI models.

“Educating models on pirated data is sadly common in the AI industry, so this stolen music is almost certain to be used training AI models,” he said.

The Anna’s Archive site alludes to a large online archive, a huge online repository of copyrighted books that has allegedly been leveraged by Meta to develop its AI models.

The co-founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “build their own personal free equivalent of the service”. The executive said it could also allow tech companies to “train on modern music at a large volume”.

Copyright has emerged as a key issue between creatives, authors and content creators on one side and tech giants on the other.

Policy Proposals and Reactions

In the UK, creative professionals have protested against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies utilize copyright-protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Almost every participant to a government call for evidence on the proposal has supported artists’ concerns.

The secretary of state for science, innovation and technology told parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this correct”. The government has committed to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by March 2025.