Advocacy Group Claims to Have Scraped Countless of Music Files from Spotify

A digital rights group has claimed to have harvested a vast number of tracks from Spotify and is getting ready to publish them publicly.

Possible Impetus for AI Training

Industry experts said the seeming data breach could aid AI companies looking for material to develop their technology.

An entity called Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million rows of metadata such as artist and album names. Spotify, which hosts more than 100 million tracks, confirmed that the breach did not constitute its full inventory.

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

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorized access identified a external actor collected public metadata and employed illicit methods to bypass DRM [digital rights management].

Archive's Stated Mission and Worries

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

The group asserted the audio files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by Spotify users and would be shared via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of sharing large digital files online.

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

AI Training and Copyright Battleground

Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, said the leaked music would likely be used for training AI models.

“Training on pirated material is sadly widespread in the tech sector, so this accessed music is highly likely to be used instructing AI models,” he said.

The group's website makes references to LibGen, a vast online repository of copyrighted books that has allegedly been leveraged by Meta to develop its systems.

A founder of an artificial intelligence company posted on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “create their own private free equivalent of the service”. He said it could also enable tech companies to “educate models on contemporary music at a large volume”.

Copyright has become a battleground between creatives, writers and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.

Policy Considerations and Reactions

In the UK, creative professionals have protested against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies use copyright-protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Virtually every participant to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ concerns.

A government minister for science, innovation and development told parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this right”. The administration has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.