A digital rights group has claimed to have harvested a vast number of songs from Spotify and is getting ready to release them online.
Possible Boost for AI Training
Industry experts said the seeming leak could boost artificial intelligence firms looking for data to train their technology.
An entity known as Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million entries of associated data such as performer and album names. The company, which carries more than 100 million songs, stated that the leak did not represent its full catalog.
“We have identified and disabled the malicious user accounts that were involved in illegal scraping,” stated a company spokesperson.
The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorized access identified a third party collected public metadata and used questionable methods to circumvent DRM protections.
Group's Declared Goal and Concerns
Spotify does not believe the audio acquired by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for offering links to pirated books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music.
They asserted the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by Spotify users and would be shared via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, 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 purpose as “preserving humanity’s information and heritage”.
AI Training and Copyright Battleground
Ed Newton-Rex for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the breached music would likely be used for training AI models.
“Training on pirated material is unfortunately widespread in the AI industry, so this accessed music is almost certain to end up training AI models,” he said.
The group's website makes references to LibGen, a huge online archive of pirated books that has reportedly been used by Meta to train its AI models.
A founder of an AI startup wrote on LinkedIn that members of the public could in theory “build their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. The executive said it could also enable tech companies to “train on contemporary music at a large volume”.
Copyright has emerged as a battleground between creatives, authors and content creators on one side and AI companies on the other.
Policy Proposals and Reactions
Across Britain, artists and writers have protested against a government proposal to let AI companies utilize protected work without consent unless the owner signals. Almost every respondent to a government consultation on the idea has supported artists’ apprehensions.
A government minister for technology, research and development told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this right”. The government has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.
