Activist Group Claims to Have Extracted Millions of Audio Files from the Streaming Giant
An activist group has claimed to have scraped a vast number of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them online.
Possible Impetus for AI Development
Observers said the seeming leak could aid AI companies looking for material to train their models.
An entity called Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million rows of metadata such as performer and record names. The company, which carries more than 100 million songs, stated that the leak did not represent its entire inventory.
“We have identified and disabled the malicious user accounts that were involved in illegal scraping,” stated a Spotify representative.
The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorized access found a third party collected public metadata and employed questionable tactics to bypass DRM [digital rights management].
Group's Declared Mission and Concerns
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, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music.
The group claimed the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music listened to by Spotify users and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a method of exchanging large digital files online.
“Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its purpose as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and heritage”.
AI Training and Intellectual Property Battleground
A composer and campaigner for defending artists’ rights, said the breached music would probably be utilized for developing AI models.
“Educating models on pirated data is unfortunately widespread in the tech sector, so this accessed music is highly likely to end up instructing AI models,” he said.
The group's website makes references to a large online archive, a vast online repository of copyrighted books that has allegedly been used by Meta to train its AI models.
The co-founder of an AI startup wrote on the professional network that individuals of the public could in principle “create their own personal free version of Spotify”. He said it could also enable technology firms to “train on modern music at scale”.
Copyright has become a key issue between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and tech giants on the other.
Government Proposals and Responses
In the UK, creative professionals have raised concerns against a government suggestion to let AI companies use copyright-protected work without consent unless the rights holder signals. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ concerns.
The secretary of state for technology, research and technology told parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The government has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.
