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An activist organization has stated to have scraped a vast number of tracks from Spotify and is getting ready to release them publicly.

Possible Boost for AI Training

Industry experts noted the apparent leak could aid artificial intelligence firms looking for material to develop their models.

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

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

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorized access identified a external actor scraped public metadata and employed questionable methods to bypass DRM [digital rights management].

Archive's Declared Mission and Concerns

The streaming service 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, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music.

The group claimed the audio files accounted for 99.6% of all music listened to by its listeners and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a method of exchanging large digital files online.

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

AI Training and Intellectual Property Debate

Ed Newton-Rex for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the breached music would likely be utilized for developing AI models.

“Training on illegally sourced material is unfortunately widespread in the AI industry, so this stolen music is almost certain to be used instructing AI models,” he stated.

The group's website makes references to LibGen, a vast online archive of pirated books that has allegedly been used by Meta to develop its systems.

A founder of an artificial intelligence company posted on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “create their own personal free version of Spotify”. He said it could also enable technology firms to “train on contemporary music at scale”.

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

Government Proposals and Reactions

Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a ministerial proposal to let AI companies utilize protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ apprehensions.

A government minister for science, research and development informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this correct”. The government has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.