An activist group has claimed to have scraped millions of songs from the popular streaming service and is getting ready to publish them online.
Potential Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Development
Industry experts said the apparent leak could boost AI companies looking for data to train their technology.
A group called Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million rows of metadata such as performer and album names. Spotify, which hosts more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the leak did not constitute its entire inventory.
“We have identified and disabled the malicious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” stated a Spotify representative.
The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an investigation into unauthorised access found a external actor collected public metadata and used questionable methods to circumvent DRM [digital rights management].
Archive's Declared Goal and Worries
Spotify does not think the music taken by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for providing links to copyright-infringing books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.
They claimed the audio files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by Spotify users and would be distributed via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of sharing large data files online.
“Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” said Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “safeguarding humanity’s information and heritage”.
Model Development and Copyright Battleground
A composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ rights, said the leaked music would likely be utilized for developing AI models.
“Educating models on pirated data is sadly common in the tech sector, so this accessed music is highly likely to end up training AI models,” he stated.
The group's website alludes to LibGen, a vast online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been used by Meta to develop its systems.
The co-founder of an artificial intelligence company posted on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “build their own personal free equivalent of the service”. The executive said it could also allow tech companies to “educate models 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.
Policy Proposals and Reactions
Across Britain, artists and writers have protested against a ministerial proposal to allow AI companies utilize copyright-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 technology, innovation and development told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the issue, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this right”. The administration has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.
