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An activist group has stated to have scraped a vast number of songs from Spotify and is getting ready to release them online.

Possible Boost for AI Development

Industry experts said the seeming data breach could boost AI companies searching for data to develop their models.

A group called Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million entries of metadata such as performer and record names. The company, which carries more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the breach did not constitute its entire catalog.

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

The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access found a external actor scraped public metadata and used questionable tactics to circumvent DRM protections.

Archive's Stated Goal and Worries

The streaming service does not think the music taken by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for providing links to pirated books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

The group asserted the music files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by Spotify users and would be distributed via ‘torrents’, a means of exchanging large digital files online.

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

Model Development and Intellectual Property Debate

A composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright, remarked the breached music would probably be utilized for training AI models.

“Training on illegally sourced data is unfortunately widespread in the tech sector, so this stolen music is highly likely to end up training AI models,” he stated.

The group's website alludes to LibGen, a huge online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been used by the parent company of Facebook to develop its systems.

The co-founder of an AI startup wrote on the professional network that individuals of the public could in theory “build their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. The executive said it could also allow technology firms to “educate models on contemporary music at scale”.

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

Policy Proposals and Responses

Across Britain, creative professionals have raised concerns against a government proposal to allow AI companies utilize protected work without permission unless the rights holder signals. Virtually every participant to a government consultation on the idea has supported artists’ apprehensions.

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