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A digital rights group has stated to have scraped millions of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them online.

Possible Boost for Artificial Intelligence Training

Industry experts said the seeming data breach could aid AI companies looking for material to develop their technology.

An entity known as Anna’s Archive reported it had obtained 86 million music files from the platform and 256 million entries of associated data such as performer and record names. The company, which hosts more than 100 million tracks, stated that the leak did not constitute its full catalog.

“We have located and disabled the nefarious user accounts that were involved in illegal scraping,” said a Spotify spokesperson.

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorized access found a external actor collected public metadata and employed illicit tactics to bypass DRM [digital rights management].

Group's Stated Goal and Worries

The streaming service does not believe the music 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 ‘preservation archive’ for music.

The group claimed the audio files accounted for 99.6% of all music listened to by its listeners and would be distributed via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of exchanging large digital files online.

“Naturally the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start,” said Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “preserving humanity’s information and heritage”.

AI Training and Intellectual Property Debate

Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, said the leaked music would likely be used for developing AI models.

“Training on pirated data is sadly common in the tech sector, so this accessed music is almost certain to end up instructing AI models,” he said.

The group's website makes references to a large online archive, a vast online archive of pirated books that has reportedly been leveraged by Meta to develop its systems.

A founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on the professional network that individuals of the public could in principle “build their own private free version of the service”. The executive said it could also enable tech companies to “educate models on modern music at scale”.

Intellectual property law has become a key issue between creatives, authors and content creators on one side and AI companies on the other.

Policy Proposals and Reactions

In the UK, creative professionals have raised concerns against a ministerial suggestion to let AI companies utilize protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Almost every participant to a government consultation on the idea has backed artists’ concerns.

The secretary of state for technology, research and technology informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The government has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.