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An activist group has stated to have scraped millions of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to release them online.

Potential Impetus for AI Development

Observers noted the apparent leak could aid AI companies looking for data to train their technology.

A group known as Anna’s Archive reported it had obtained 86 million audio tracks from Spotify and 256 million rows of metadata such as artist and record names. The company, which hosts more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the breach did not represent its full catalog.

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

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, added that an inquiry into unauthorised access identified a third party scraped public metadata and used questionable tactics to circumvent DRM protections.

Group's Declared Mission 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 pirated books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

They claimed the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by Spotify users and would be distributed via ‘torrents’, a method of sharing large data files online.

“Of course the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “preserving humanity’s information and culture”.

AI Training and Intellectual Property Debate

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

“Educating models on pirated data is unfortunately widespread in the tech sector, so this accessed music is highly likely to be used training AI models,” he said.

The group's website makes references to LibGen, a huge online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been leveraged by the parent company of Facebook to train its systems.

The co-founder of an AI startup wrote on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “build their own private free version of the service”. He added it could also enable tech companies to “educate models on modern music at scale”.

Intellectual property law has become a key issue between artists, authors and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.

Policy Proposals and Responses

Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a ministerial proposal to allow AI companies use copyright-protected work without permission unless the rights holder signals. Virtually every participant to a government call for evidence on the idea has backed artists’ concerns.

A government minister for science, research and development told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, noting that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The administration has pledged to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.