A digital rights group has stated to have scraped a vast number of tracks from Spotify and is getting ready to release them online.
Possible Boost for AI Development
Observers noted the seeming data breach could boost AI companies searching for data to train their models.
An entity called Anna’s Archive said it had obtained 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million rows of associated data such as performer and record names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million songs, stated that the leak did not represent its entire catalog.
“We have located and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that engaged in illegal scraping,” stated a Spotify spokesperson.
The Swedish company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access identified a third party collected public metadata and employed questionable methods to bypass DRM [digital rights management].
Archive's Stated Mission and Worries
The streaming service does not believe the music taken by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for providing links to copyright-infringing books, wrote 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 ‘torrents’, a method of sharing large data files online.
“Of course the service 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 culture”.
AI Training and Copyright Debate
A composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright, said the breached music would probably be used for developing artificial intelligence systems.
“Training on pirated data is unfortunately widespread in the AI industry, so this accessed music is almost certain to end up instructing AI models,” he stated.
The group's website alludes to a large online archive, a vast online archive of pirated books that has reportedly been leveraged by Meta to train its AI models.
A founder of an AI startup posted on LinkedIn that members of the public could in theory “create their own private free equivalent of Spotify”. The executive added it could also enable tech companies to “train on contemporary music at scale”.
Intellectual property law has emerged as a battleground between artists, writers and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.
Government Proposals and Reactions
Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a ministerial suggestion to let AI companies use protected work without permission unless the rights holder opts out. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ apprehensions.
The secretary of state for technology, innovation and technology informed parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this correct”. The administration has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.
