🔗 Share this article Advocacy Collective Asserts to Have Scraped Millions of Music Files from Spotify A digital rights organization has claimed to have harvested millions of tracks from the popular streaming service and is getting ready to publish them publicly. Potential Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Training Observers said the apparent data breach could boost artificial intelligence firms looking for data to develop their technology. A group known as Anna’s Archive reported it had obtained 86 million music files from Spotify and 256 million rows of associated data such as performer and record names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the leak did not constitute its full catalog. “We have identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” stated a Spotify representative. The Stockholm-based company, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorized access found a third party collected public metadata and employed illicit tactics to bypass DRM [digital rights management]. Group's Stated Goal and Worries The streaming service does not think the music acquired 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 ‘preservation archive’ for music. The group claimed the music files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by its listeners and would be distributed via ‘peer-to-peer networks’, a means of exchanging large digital files online. “Naturally Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its purpose as “safeguarding humanity’s knowledge and heritage”. Model Development and Copyright Debate Ed Newton-Rex for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the leaked music would probably be utilized for training AI models. “Educating models on pirated data is sadly widespread in the AI industry, so this accessed music is highly likely to end up instructing AI models,” he stated. The group's website alludes to LibGen, a vast online archive of pirated books that has allegedly been leveraged by Meta to train its systems. A founder of an AI startup posted on the professional network that individuals of the public could in theory “create their own private free equivalent of the service”. He said it could also allow technology firms to “educate models on modern music at scale”. Copyright has emerged as a key issue between artists, writers and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other. Government Considerations and Reactions In the UK, creative professionals have protested against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies use protected work without consent unless the owner signals. Virtually every participant to a government consultation on the proposal has backed artists’ concerns. The secretary of state for technology, innovation and technology told parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this right”. The administration has pledged to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.