An activist organization has claimed to have scraped millions of songs from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them publicly.
Potential Boost for AI Training
Observers noted the seeming leak could aid AI companies searching for data to train their models.
An entity known as Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from Spotify and 256 million entries of associated data such as artist and record names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the breach did not constitute its full inventory.
“We have located and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that were involved in illegal scraping,” said a Spotify representative.
The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, added that an inquiry into unauthorised access identified a third party collected public metadata and employed illicit tactics to circumvent DRM protections.
Group's Declared Mission and Concerns
The streaming service does not think the music taken by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known 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 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 great start,” said Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and culture”.
AI Training and Intellectual Property Battleground
A composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright, remarked the leaked music would likely be utilized for training artificial intelligence systems.
“Educating models on pirated material is sadly common in the tech sector, so this accessed music is highly likely to be used instructing AI models,” he stated.
The group's website alludes to LibGen, a vast online repository of pirated books that has allegedly been used by Meta to develop its AI models.
The co-founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on LinkedIn that members of the public could in theory “create their own personal free equivalent of the service”. He said it could also allow technology firms to “train on contemporary music at scale”.
Intellectual property law has emerged as a battleground between artists, writers and content creators on one side and tech giants on the other.
Government Considerations and Responses
In the UK, creative professionals have protested against a government suggestion 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 backed artists’ apprehensions.
A government minister for technology, research and development informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, adding that ministers would “take the time to get this correct”. The administration has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.
