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A digital rights organization has stated to have harvested a vast number of tracks from the popular streaming service and is preparing to publish them publicly.

Possible Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Development

Observers said the seeming leak could boost AI companies searching for material to develop their models.

A group known as Anna’s Archive said it had scraped 86 million music files from the platform and 256 million entries of associated data such as performer and album names. The company, which carries more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the leak did not constitute its entire catalog.

“We have identified and deactivated the malicious user accounts that were involved in unlawful scraping,” stated a Spotify representative.

The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorised access found a external actor collected public metadata and used questionable tactics to circumvent DRM protections.

Group's Stated Goal and Worries

The streaming service does not think the audio taken by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for providing links to pirated books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘preservation archive’ for music.

The group asserted the music files accounted for 99.6% of all music streamed to by its listeners and would be shared via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of sharing large data files online.

“Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its mission as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and heritage”.

Model Development and Copyright Debate

Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, remarked the breached music would likely be used for training AI models.

“Training on pirated material is sadly widespread in the tech sector, so this stolen music is almost certain to end up training 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 train its AI models.

A founder of an artificial intelligence company posted on the professional network that individuals of the public could in theory “build their own personal free version of the service”. He added it could also allow tech companies to “educate models on modern music at scale”.

Copyright has become a key issue between creatives, authors and content creators on one side and AI companies on the other.

Policy Proposals and Responses

In the UK, artists and writers have raised concerns against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies use protected work without consent unless the rights holder opts out. Virtually every participant to a government call for evidence on the proposal has backed artists’ apprehensions.

A government minister for technology, innovation and development informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the issue, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this right”. The administration has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.