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An activist organization has stated to have harvested a vast number of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to release them online.

Possible Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Training

Industry experts noted the apparent leak could aid AI companies searching for data to train their models.

A group called Anna’s Archive said it had obtained 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million entries of metadata such as performer and record names. The company, which carries more than 100 million songs, stated that the leak did not constitute its entire catalog.

“We have identified and deactivated the malicious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” stated a company spokesperson.

The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access identified a third party scraped public metadata and used illicit methods to circumvent DRM [digital rights management].

Group's Declared Mission and Worries

Spotify does not believe the music acquired by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for providing links to pirated books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music.

They claimed the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be distributed via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of sharing large digital files online.

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

AI Training and Copyright Debate

A composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright, remarked 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 end up instructing AI models,” he stated.

The group's website alludes to LibGen, a huge online repository of copyrighted books that has allegedly been leveraged by Meta to train its AI models.

The co-founder of an AI startup posted on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “build their own private free version of Spotify”. He added it could also allow technology firms to “train on modern music at scale”.

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

Government Proposals and Responses

Across Britain, artists and writers have protested against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies utilize copyright-protected work without consent unless the rights holder signals. Almost every respondent to a government call for evidence on the proposal has backed artists’ concerns.

A government minister for technology, innovation and development informed parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this correct”. The administration has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.