🔗 Share this article Activist Group Claims to Have Scraped Millions of Music Tracks from the Streaming Giant An activist group has stated to have scraped a vast number of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them online. Possible Boost for AI Development Industry experts said the apparent data breach could aid artificial intelligence firms searching for data to develop their models. A group known as Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million entries of associated data such as artist and album names. The company, which hosts more than 100 million tracks, confirmed that the leak did not represent its entire catalog. “We have located and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that were involved in unlawful scraping,” stated a Spotify spokesperson. The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorized access found a external actor collected public metadata and used questionable tactics to bypass DRM protections. Group's Declared Goal and Worries Spotify does not believe the audio acquired by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for offering links to copyright-infringing books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music. The group claimed the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a method of sharing large digital files online. “Naturally Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its purpose as “safeguarding humanity’s knowledge and culture”. AI Training and Intellectual Property Debate A composer and campaigner for defending artists’ rights, said the leaked music would likely be utilized for developing AI models. “Educating models on pirated data is sadly widespread in the AI industry, so this accessed music is almost certain to be used instructing AI models,” he said. The Anna’s Archive site makes references to LibGen, a huge online repository of copyrighted books that has reportedly been leveraged by the parent company of Facebook to train its AI models. The co-founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “create their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. He added it could also enable technology firms to “train on modern music at scale”. Intellectual property law has emerged as a battleground between artists, authors and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other. Government Considerations and Responses Across Britain, creative professionals have protested against a ministerial proposal to let AI companies utilize protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Almost every respondent to a government consultation on the idea has backed artists’ apprehensions. The secretary of state for science, research and technology told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, noting that ministers would “use the time to get this right”. The government has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.