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An activist organization has claimed to have harvested a vast number of tracks from Spotify and is preparing to publish them online.

Potential Boost for Artificial Intelligence Training

Industry experts noted the seeming data breach could aid artificial intelligence firms searching for data to train their technology.

A group called Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million entries of metadata such as performer and album names. Spotify, which hosts more than 100 million tracks, confirmed that the leak did not constitute its entire inventory.

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

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an investigation into unauthorized access found a third party collected public metadata and used illicit tactics to circumvent DRM protections.

Archive's Declared Goal and Concerns

Spotify does not believe the audio acquired by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for offering links to copyright-infringing books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

The group asserted the music files represented 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be shared via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a method of exchanging large data files online.

“Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic start,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its purpose as “preserving humanity’s information and heritage”.

AI Training and Copyright Debate

A composer and campaigner for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the leaked music would likely be used for developing AI models.

“Educating models on illegally sourced data is unfortunately common in the tech sector, so this accessed music is highly likely to be used instructing AI models,” he said.

The group's website alludes to a large online archive, a vast online repository of copyrighted books that has allegedly been leveraged by the parent company of Facebook to train its AI models.

A founder of an AI startup wrote on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “build their own private free version of the service”. The executive added it could also enable tech companies to “educate models on contemporary music at scale”.

Intellectual property law has emerged as a key issue between artists, authors and creatives on one side and tech giants on the other.

Government Proposals and Reactions

Across Britain, creative professionals have raised concerns against a ministerial proposal to let AI companies use copyright-protected work without permission unless the rights holder opts out. Almost every participant to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ concerns.

The secretary of state for technology, research and technology informed parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this correct”. The government has committed to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.