🔗 Share this article Activist Group Claims to Have Extracted Millions of Music Files from Spotify An activist group has stated to have harvested millions of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them online. Potential Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Training Observers said the apparent leak could boost artificial intelligence firms searching for material to develop their technology. An entity called Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million entries of associated data such as artist and album names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million tracks, stated that the breach did not constitute its entire catalog. “We have identified and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” stated a company representative. The Swedish service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorized access identified a external actor collected public metadata and used questionable methods to circumvent DRM protections. Archive's Declared Goal 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 recognized for offering links to copyright-infringing books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music. They claimed the audio files accounted for 99.6% of all music listened to by its listeners and would be distributed 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 fantastic beginning,” said Anna’s Archive, which frames its mission as “safeguarding humanity’s knowledge and heritage”. AI Training and Copyright Battleground A composer and campaigner for defending artists’ rights, said the breached music would likely be used for training AI models. “Training on illegally sourced material is unfortunately widespread in the AI industry, so this accessed music is almost certain to be used training AI models,” he stated. The group's website makes references to LibGen, a vast online repository of copyrighted books that has reportedly been used by the parent company of Facebook to develop its AI models. The co-founder of an AI startup posted on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “build their own private free version of Spotify”. The executive added it could also enable technology firms to “educate models on modern music at a large volume”. Copyright has become a battleground between artists, writers and creatives on one side and tech giants on the other. Policy Proposals and Responses Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a government proposal to let AI companies use copyright-protected work without consent unless the rights holder signals. Almost every participant to a government call for evidence on the proposal has backed artists’ apprehensions. The secretary of state for technology, research and development informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “take the time to get this correct”. The administration has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.