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

Possible Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Training

Industry experts noted the seeming data breach could boost AI companies searching for data to train their technology.

An entity known as Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million entries of metadata such as performer and album names. The company, which carries more than 100 million tracks, stated that the breach did not represent its full catalog.

“We have identified and disabled the malicious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” said a company representative.

The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access found a external actor collected public metadata and used questionable tactics to bypass DRM protections.

Group's Stated Goal and Worries

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

They asserted the audio files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by Spotify users and would be shared via ‘torrents’, a means of exchanging large data files online.

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

AI Training and Copyright Debate

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

“Educating models on pirated data is unfortunately widespread in the AI industry, so this stolen music is highly likely to be used instructing AI models,” he said.

The Anna’s Archive site alludes to a large online archive, a huge online repository of copyrighted books that has reportedly been used by Meta to develop its AI models.

A founder of an AI startup wrote on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in theory “build their own private free version of the service”. The executive said it could also enable tech companies to “train on contemporary music at scale”.

Copyright has become a key issue between artists, writers and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.

Policy Considerations and Reactions

Across Britain, artists and writers have protested against a ministerial suggestion to let AI companies use protected work without consent unless the rights holder opts out. Virtually every participant to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ apprehensions.

A government minister for science, innovation and development told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this right”. The administration has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.