Activist Group Asserts to Have Scraped Millions of Music Files from the Streaming Giant
A digital rights group has stated to have scraped millions of tracks from Spotify and is getting ready to publish them publicly.
Possible Impetus for AI Development
Industry experts noted the seeming data breach could aid AI companies searching for data to train their technology.
A group called Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million music files from the platform and 256 million entries of metadata such as performer and record names. Spotify, which hosts more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the leak did not constitute its entire catalog.
“We have located and deactivated the malicious user accounts that were involved in unlawful scraping,” stated a Spotify spokesperson.
The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorised access found a external actor scraped public metadata and used questionable tactics to bypass DRM [digital rights management].
Archive's Stated Goal and Concerns
The streaming service does not think the music 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 ‘historical repository’ for music.
They asserted the music files represented 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be shared via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of exchanging large digital files online.
“Naturally the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and heritage”.
Model Development and Intellectual Property Debate
Ed Newton-Rex for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the leaked music would likely be used for developing artificial intelligence systems.
“Educating models on illegally sourced data is unfortunately common in the AI industry, so this accessed music is highly likely to be used training AI models,” he said.
The Anna’s Archive site alludes to a large online archive, a vast online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been used by Meta to develop its AI models.
A founder of an artificial intelligence company posted on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “build their own personal free version of Spotify”. The executive added it could also enable tech companies to “educate models on contemporary music at scale”.
Copyright has emerged as a battleground between artists, authors and creatives on one side and tech giants on the other.
Government Proposals and Reactions
Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a ministerial suggestion to let AI companies use protected work without consent unless the rights holder signals. Virtually every participant to a government call for evidence on the idea has backed artists’ apprehensions.
A government minister for technology, research and development told parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this right”. The government has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.
