A digital rights group has stated to have scraped a vast number of tracks from Spotify and is preparing to publish them publicly.
Potential Boost for AI Development
Industry experts noted the apparent leak could aid artificial intelligence firms searching for data to develop their models.
A group known as Anna’s Archive reported it had obtained 86 million music files from the platform and 256 million rows of metadata such as performer and record names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million songs, stated that the breach did not represent its full inventory.
“We have located and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” stated a company spokesperson.
The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorised access found a external actor collected public metadata and used questionable tactics to bypass DRM protections.
Archive's Stated Goal and Concerns
Spotify does not think the audio taken by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for offering links to pirated books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.
The group asserted the music files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by Spotify users and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a means of exchanging large data files online.
“Of course the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “preserving humanity’s information and heritage”.
Model Development and Copyright Debate
Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, said the breached music would probably be used for developing AI models.
“Training on illegally sourced data is unfortunately common in the AI industry, so this stolen music is highly likely to be used training AI models,” he said.
The group's website makes references to a large online archive, a huge online repository of pirated books that has allegedly been used by Meta to train its systems.
A founder of an AI startup posted on the professional network that individuals of the public could in theory “create their own personal free version of Spotify”. He said it could also enable technology firms to “train on contemporary music at a large volume”.
Copyright has emerged as a key issue between artists, authors and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.
Policy Proposals and Responses
Across Britain, creative professionals have protested against a government proposal to allow AI companies utilize copyright-protected work without consent unless the owner opts out. Virtually every participant to a government consultation on the proposal has supported artists’ apprehensions.
A government minister for science, innovation and technology told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The government has committed to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by March 2025.
