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An activist group has claimed to have harvested millions of songs from Spotify and is preparing to publish them publicly.

Possible Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Training

Industry experts noted the apparent data breach could aid AI companies looking for data to train their technology.

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

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

The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an investigation into unauthorized access found a third party scraped public metadata and employed questionable methods to circumvent DRM protections.

Group's Declared Goal and Worries

Spotify does not think the music taken by Anna’s Archive has been made public 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 asserted the music files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by its listeners and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a means of exchanging large data files online.

“Of course the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its purpose as “preserving humanity’s information and culture”.

AI Training and Intellectual Property Debate

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

“Training on illegally sourced material is sadly common in the tech sector, so this stolen music is highly likely to be used instructing AI models,” he stated.

The group's website makes references to a large online archive, a vast online repository of copyrighted books that has reportedly been used by the parent company of Facebook to develop its AI models.

A founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “create their own private free version of the service”. He added it could also enable technology firms to “educate models on modern music at scale”.

Copyright has emerged as a key issue between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.

Policy Considerations and Reactions

Across Britain, creative professionals have protested against a government suggestion to allow AI companies use protected work without permission unless the rights holder opts out. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the idea has supported artists’ apprehensions.

A government minister for science, research and technology informed parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The administration has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.