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A digital rights group has claimed to have harvested a vast number of tracks from the popular streaming service and is getting ready to release them publicly.

Possible Boost for AI Training

Observers said the seeming data breach could aid artificial intelligence firms searching for data to train their models.

A group known as Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million rows of associated data such as artist and record names. Spotify, which hosts more than 100 million songs, stated that the leak did not constitute its full inventory.

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

The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an investigation into unauthorized access found a third party scraped public metadata and used illicit tactics to bypass DRM protections.

Archive's Stated Mission and Concerns

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

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

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

Model Development and Copyright Battleground

A composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright, remarked the leaked music would likely be utilized for training AI models.

“Training on illegally sourced material is unfortunately widespread in the AI industry, so this accessed music is almost certain to end up training AI models,” he said.

The Anna’s Archive site makes references to LibGen, a huge online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been used by Meta to develop its AI models.

A founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “build their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. He said it could also allow technology firms to “train on contemporary music at scale”.

Copyright has become a key issue between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and tech giants on the other.

Government Considerations and Responses

Across Britain, artists and writers have protested against a government proposal to allow AI companies use protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Almost every respondent to a government call for evidence on the idea has supported artists’ concerns.

A government minister for technology, research and technology informed parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the issue, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The government has committed to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by March 2025.