Activist Collective Asserts to Have Extracted Millions of Music Files from Spotify

An activist group has stated to have scraped millions of songs from Spotify and is getting ready to release them publicly.

Possible Impetus for AI Development

Industry experts said the seeming data breach could aid artificial intelligence firms looking for material to train their technology.

A group called Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from Spotify and 256 million entries of metadata such as performer and album names. The company, which hosts more than 100 million tracks, stated that the leak did not constitute its full inventory.

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

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access found a third party collected public metadata and used questionable tactics to circumvent DRM protections.

Archive's Declared Goal and Worries

Spotify does not think the audio acquired by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for providing links to copyright-infringing books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

The group claimed the audio files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by Spotify users and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a means of exchanging large digital files online.

“Naturally the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its purpose as “preserving humanity’s information and culture”.

Model Development and Intellectual Property Debate

A composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ rights, remarked the breached music would likely be utilized for developing AI models.

“Educating models on illegally sourced material is unfortunately common in the AI industry, so this stolen music is almost certain to end up instructing AI models,” he stated.

The Anna’s Archive site makes references to LibGen, a vast online archive of pirated books that has allegedly been leveraged by the parent company of Facebook to train its systems.

The co-founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on the professional network that individuals of the public could in theory “create their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. He said it could also enable tech companies to “educate models on contemporary music at a large volume”.

Intellectual property law has become a key issue between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and tech giants on the other.

Policy Considerations and Responses

Across Britain, creative professionals have protested against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies utilize protected work without permission unless the owner signals. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the idea has backed artists’ concerns.

A government minister for science, innovation and development informed 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 pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.