An activist group has claimed to have harvested millions of tracks from Spotify and is preparing to release them online.
Possible Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Development
Observers noted the seeming data breach could aid artificial intelligence firms looking for data to train their models.
An entity known as Anna’s Archive said it had obtained 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million rows of metadata such as performer and record names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million songs, stated that the leak did not constitute its full inventory.
“We have identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that were involved in unlawful scraping,” said a company spokesperson.
The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorized access identified a third party collected public metadata and employed illicit tactics to bypass DRM protections.
Archive's Declared Goal and Worries
The streaming service does not think the music acquired by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for offering links to copyright-infringing books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.
They claimed the audio files represented 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a method of exchanging large data files online.
“Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its purpose as “preserving humanity’s information and culture”.
AI Training and Intellectual Property Battleground
Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ rights, said the leaked music would likely be used for training AI models.
“Training on illegally sourced material is unfortunately widespread in the tech sector, so this accessed music is almost certain to end up instructing AI models,” he stated.
The group's website alludes to LibGen, a vast online archive of copyrighted books that has allegedly been used by Meta to develop its AI models.
A founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “build their own personal free version of Spotify”. He said it could also enable technology firms to “train on contemporary music at a large volume”.
Intellectual property law has become a key issue between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.
Policy Proposals and Responses
Across Britain, creative professionals have raised concerns against a government proposal to allow AI companies use copyright-protected work without permission unless the rights holder opts out. Almost every participant to a government call for evidence on the idea has supported artists’ concerns.
The secretary of state for technology, research and technology told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the issue, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The administration has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.
