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An activist group has claimed to have scraped a vast number of songs from the popular streaming service and is preparing to release them publicly.

Possible Boost for AI Development

Observers said the seeming data breach could aid AI companies looking for material to develop their technology.

A group called Anna’s Archive said it had obtained 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million rows of associated data such as performer and record names. The company, which carries more than 100 million tracks, stated that the leak did not represent its full inventory.

“We have located and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” said a Spotify spokesperson.

The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an investigation into unauthorised access found a third party collected public metadata and employed illicit methods to bypass DRM [digital rights management].

Group's Stated Goal and Concerns

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, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

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

“Naturally the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic start,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “safeguarding humanity’s information and culture”.

AI Training and Copyright Debate

Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ rights, said the leaked music would probably be utilized for developing AI models.

“Training on illegally sourced data is sadly widespread in the tech sector, so this stolen music is almost certain to end up instructing AI models,” he stated.

The group's website makes references to a large online archive, a huge online repository of copyrighted books that has reportedly been leveraged by Meta to train its AI models.

The co-founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on the professional network that individuals of the public could in theory “create their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. The executive said it could also enable tech companies to “educate models on modern music at scale”.

Intellectual property law has emerged as a key issue between creatives, authors and content creators on one side and AI companies on the other.

Policy Proposals and Responses

Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies use protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the idea has supported artists’ apprehensions.

The secretary of state for technology, innovation and technology told parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The government has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by March 2025.