Activist Group Claims to Have Scraped Millions of Audio Tracks from Spotify
A digital rights group has claimed to have scraped millions of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them publicly.
Potential Boost for Artificial Intelligence Training
Observers said the apparent data breach could boost artificial intelligence firms searching for material to develop their technology.
A group known as Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million music files from the platform and 256 million entries of metadata such as artist and record names. The company, which carries more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the breach did not represent its full catalog.
“We have identified and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” stated a company spokesperson.
The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access identified a external actor collected public metadata and employed illicit methods to circumvent DRM [digital rights management].
Archive's Declared Goal and Worries
Spotify does not believe the music acquired by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for providing links to copyright-infringing books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music.
The group asserted the audio files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by Spotify users and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a means of sharing large data files online.
“Naturally Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic start,” said Anna’s Archive, which describes its mission as “safeguarding humanity’s information and heritage”.
Model Development and Intellectual Property Battleground
Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, said the leaked music would likely be used for training AI models.
“Training on pirated material is sadly widespread in the AI industry, so this stolen music is highly likely to end up instructing AI models,” he said.
The group's website makes references to a large online archive, a vast online archive of copyrighted books that has reportedly been used by Meta to develop its AI models.
The co-founder of an AI startup posted on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “build their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. He added it could also enable tech companies to “educate models on modern music at scale”.
Copyright has emerged as a key issue between creatives, writers and content creators on one side and tech giants on the other.
Government Considerations and Responses
In the UK, artists and writers have protested against a ministerial proposal to allow AI companies utilize protected work without consent unless the rights holder opts out. Almost every participant to a government call for evidence on the idea has backed artists’ concerns.
The secretary of state for science, research and development informed parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “use the time to get this right”. The administration has committed to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.
