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A digital rights group has claimed to have scraped millions of songs from Spotify and is preparing to release them publicly.

Potential Boost for Artificial Intelligence Development

Observers said the seeming data breach could aid artificial intelligence firms searching for data to develop their models.

A group known as Anna’s Archive reported it had scraped 86 million audio tracks from Spotify and 256 million entries of associated data such as artist and record names. The company, which hosts more than 100 million songs, stated that the leak did not represent its full inventory.

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

The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, added that an inquiry into unauthorized access identified a third party collected public metadata and employed illicit methods to circumvent DRM protections.

Group's Declared Mission and Worries

Spotify does not think the music taken by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for offering links to copyright-infringing books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

They asserted the music files represented 99.6% of all music streamed to by Spotify users and would be distributed via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of exchanging large digital files online.

“Naturally the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start,” said Anna’s Archive, which frames its purpose as “safeguarding humanity’s knowledge and heritage”.

AI Training and Intellectual Property Debate

A composer and campaigner for defending artists’ copyright, said the leaked music would likely be used for developing artificial intelligence systems.

“Training on pirated material is sadly widespread in the tech sector, so this stolen music is almost certain to end up instructing AI models,” he said.

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

A founder of an AI startup posted on the professional network that members of the public could in principle “build their own private free equivalent of the service”. The executive said it could also enable tech companies to “train on modern music at a large volume”.

Copyright has emerged as a battleground between artists, writers and content creators on one side and AI companies on the other.

Government Proposals and Reactions

Across Britain, creative professionals have raised concerns against a government proposal to let AI companies use copyright-protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Virtually every respondent to a government consultation on the proposal has supported artists’ apprehensions.

A government minister for science, research and technology informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, noting that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The government has pledged to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by March 2025.