An activist group has claimed to have scraped millions of songs from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them online.
Possible Boost for Artificial Intelligence Training
Observers said the seeming data breach could aid artificial intelligence firms searching for data to train their models.
An entity called Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million rows of associated data such as artist and album names. The company, which carries more than 100 million songs, stated that the breach did not constitute its full catalog.
“We have identified and disabled the malicious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” said a Spotify spokesperson.
The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, added that an inquiry into unauthorized access identified a external actor scraped public metadata and employed illicit tactics to bypass DRM [digital rights management].
Group's Stated Goal and Concerns
The streaming service does not think the music taken by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for providing links to copyright-infringing books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.
The group asserted the audio files represented 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be shared 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 great start,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its mission as “preserving humanity’s information and culture”.
Model Development and Copyright Debate
A composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright, said the breached music would likely be used for training AI models.
“Training on pirated material is unfortunately common in the AI industry, so this accessed music is highly likely to end up instructing AI models,” he said.
The Anna’s Archive site makes references to LibGen, a vast online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been used by Meta to train its AI models.
A founder of an artificial intelligence company posted on LinkedIn that members of the public could in theory “build their own personal free version of the service”. He added it could also allow technology firms to “train on contemporary music at scale”.
Copyright has become a battleground between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.
Government Proposals and Reactions
Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a government suggestion to let AI companies use copyright-protected work without permission unless the owner signals. Virtually every participant to a government consultation on the idea has supported artists’ concerns.
A government minister for science, research and technology told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “take the time to get this correct”. The administration has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.
