Advocacy Collective Claims to Have Extracted Millions of Music Tracks from the Streaming Giant
A digital rights organization has stated to have scraped millions of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to release them online.
Possible Boost for AI Training
Industry experts said the seeming leak could aid AI companies looking for data to develop their models.
A group called Anna’s Archive reported it had obtained 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million rows of metadata such as performer and album names. The company, which carries more than 100 million tracks, stated that the breach did not constitute its full catalog.
“We have identified and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that were involved in illegal scraping,” stated a company spokesperson.
The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorized access found a external actor collected public metadata and employed questionable tactics to circumvent DRM protections.
Group's Stated Goal and Concerns
Spotify does not believe the audio taken by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for offering links to copyright-infringing books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.
The group claimed the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music listened to by Spotify users and would be distributed via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of sharing large digital files online.
“Of course the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” said Anna’s Archive, which describes its purpose as “safeguarding humanity’s knowledge and culture”.
AI Training and Copyright Debate
Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, said the leaked music would probably be utilized for training AI models.
“Educating models on pirated data is sadly common in the AI industry, so this stolen music is highly likely to be used training AI models,” he said.
The group's website alludes to a large online archive, a huge online repository of pirated books that has allegedly been leveraged by Meta to develop its systems.
The co-founder of an AI startup wrote on the professional network that members of the public could in theory “create their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. He said it could also allow tech companies to “train on modern music at a large volume”.
Intellectual property law has become a battleground between creatives, writers and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.
Policy Considerations and Responses
In the UK, creative professionals have raised concerns against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies use copyright-protected work without consent unless the rights holder signals. Virtually every respondent to a government call for evidence on the idea has backed artists’ concerns.
A government minister for science, research and technology told parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “take the time to get this right”. The administration has pledged to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.
