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An activist organization has claimed to have scraped millions of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them publicly.

Possible Boost for Artificial Intelligence Development

Industry experts noted the apparent data breach could aid artificial intelligence firms searching for data to develop their models.

An entity called Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million entries of associated data such as performer and record names. Spotify, which hosts more than 100 million tracks, stated that the breach did not represent its full catalog.

“We have located and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” stated a Spotify spokesperson.

The Swedish service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access identified a external actor scraped public metadata and used questionable methods to circumvent DRM protections.

Group's Declared Mission and Worries

The streaming service does not think the audio acquired by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for offering links to pirated books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

The group claimed the audio files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a means of exchanging large digital files online.

“Of course the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great beginning,” said Anna’s Archive, which describes its mission as “safeguarding humanity’s knowledge and culture”.

Model Development and Copyright Battleground

Ed Newton-Rex for defending artists’ copyright, said the leaked music would probably be used for training AI models.

“Training on pirated material is unfortunately common in the tech sector, so this stolen music is highly likely to be used training AI models,” he said.

The group's website makes references to a large online archive, a huge online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been leveraged by Meta to train its AI models.

The co-founder of an AI startup posted on the professional network that individuals of the public could in principle “create their own personal free equivalent of Spotify”. He said it could also allow technology firms to “educate models on modern music at scale”.

Intellectual property law has emerged as a key issue between creatives, writers and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.

Government Proposals and Reactions

Across Britain, creative professionals have protested against a ministerial suggestion to let AI companies use protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Virtually every participant to a government consultation on the idea has backed artists’ concerns.

The secretary of state for science, research and development told parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The administration has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by March 2025.