A digital rights organization has claimed to have harvested millions of songs from the popular streaming service and is preparing to release them online.
Potential Boost for Artificial Intelligence Development
Observers said the apparent leak could aid AI companies searching for data to develop their models.
A group known as Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million music files from the platform and 256 million rows of metadata such as performer and record names. The company, which carries more than 100 million songs, confirmed 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 Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access found a third party scraped public metadata and used questionable methods to circumvent DRM [digital rights management].
Archive's Declared Mission and Worries
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 copyright-infringing books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.
They claimed the audio files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be distributed via ‘torrents’, 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 start,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its purpose as “safeguarding humanity’s information and culture”.
Model Development and Copyright Battleground
A composer and campaigner for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the leaked music would likely be used for developing AI models.
“Educating models on pirated material is sadly common in the tech sector, so this stolen music is highly likely to end up training AI models,” he said.
The Anna’s Archive site makes references to LibGen, a huge online archive of pirated books that has reportedly been leveraged by the parent company of Facebook to train its AI models.
A founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “build their own private free equivalent of the service”. The executive said it could also enable technology firms to “train on modern music at a large volume”.
Intellectual property law has become a key issue between artists, writers and content creators on one side and tech giants on the other.
Government Proposals and Responses
Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a government suggestion to allow AI companies use protected work without permission unless the owner signals. Virtually every respondent to a government call for evidence on the idea has backed artists’ concerns.
A government minister for technology, research and technology informed parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this right”. The government has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.
