🔗 Share this article Activist Group Asserts to Have Extracted Countless of Music Tracks from Spotify A digital rights group has stated to have harvested a vast number of tracks from Spotify and is getting ready to release them publicly. Possible Impetus for AI Training Industry experts said the apparent leak could aid AI companies searching for material to develop their technology. An entity known as Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from Spotify and 256 million entries of associated data such as performer and record names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million songs, stated that the breach did not constitute its full catalog. “We have located and deactivated the malicious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” stated a Spotify spokesperson. The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorised access identified a external actor scraped public metadata and used questionable tactics to circumvent DRM protections. Group's Stated Mission and Worries Spotify does not think the music acquired by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for providing links to pirated books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music. They asserted the music files represented 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be distributed via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of sharing large data files online. “Naturally Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its purpose as “safeguarding humanity’s knowledge and heritage”. Model Development and Copyright Debate Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, said the leaked music would likely be utilized for training AI models. “Training on illegally sourced data is sadly common in the tech sector, so this stolen music is highly likely to be used instructing AI models,” he stated. The Anna’s Archive site alludes to LibGen, a vast online repository of copyrighted books that has reportedly been used by Meta to train its systems. A founder of an AI startup wrote on the professional network that members of the public could in theory “create their own personal free equivalent of Spotify”. The executive added it could also allow tech companies to “educate models on contemporary music at a large volume”. Copyright has emerged as a key issue between creatives, writers and content creators on one side and tech giants on the other. Government Considerations and Reactions In the UK, artists and writers have protested against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies utilize protected work without consent unless the rights holder opts out. Virtually every participant to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ apprehensions. The secretary of state for science, research and development informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this right”. The administration has pledged to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by March 2025.