An activist group has stated to have scraped millions of tracks from Spotify and is getting ready to release them online.
Possible Boost for Artificial Intelligence Training
Observers said the seeming data breach could boost artificial intelligence firms searching for data to train their models.
A group called Anna’s Archive said it had obtained 86 million audio tracks from the platform and 256 million rows of metadata such as artist and album names. Spotify, which hosts more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the breach did not constitute its entire inventory.
“We have located and deactivated the malicious user accounts that were involved in unlawful scraping,” stated a company spokesperson.
The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, added that an inquiry into unauthorized access identified a third party scraped public metadata and employed illicit tactics to bypass DRM [digital rights management].
Group's Stated 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 known for providing 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 shared 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,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its mission as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and heritage”.
Model Development and Copyright Battleground
Ed Newton-Rex for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the breached music would probably be used for developing AI models.
“Training on illegally sourced data is unfortunately common in the tech sector, so this stolen music is almost certain to be used instructing AI models,” he stated.
The group's website makes references to LibGen, a vast online repository of pirated books that has allegedly been leveraged by Meta to develop its systems.
A founder of an artificial intelligence company posted on the professional network that individuals of the public could in principle “build their own personal free version of the service”. The executive added it could also enable tech companies to “train on modern music at scale”.
Copyright has emerged as a key issue between creatives, writers and content creators on one side and AI companies on the other.
Government Considerations and Reactions
Across Britain, artists and writers have raised concerns against a government proposal to let AI companies use protected work without permission unless the rights holder signals. Almost every respondent to a government consultation on the proposal has supported artists’ concerns.
The secretary of state for technology, innovation and development informed parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The government has committed to make regulatory plans on AI and copyright by next year.
