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A digital rights group has stated to have scraped millions of tracks from Spotify and is getting ready to publish them online.

Possible Boost for Artificial Intelligence Development

Industry experts said the apparent leak could aid AI companies searching for data to train their models.

A group called Anna’s Archive said it had obtained 86 million audio tracks from Spotify and 256 million entries of associated data such as artist and record names. Spotify, which carries more than 100 million tracks, stated that the leak did not represent its entire inventory.

“We have identified and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that were involved in illegal scraping,” stated a company spokesperson.

The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, added that an investigation into unauthorised access found a third party collected public metadata and employed questionable methods to circumvent DRM protections.

Archive's Declared Goal and Worries

Spotify does not think the music acquired 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 ‘historical repository’ for music.

They claimed the music files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by its listeners and would be distributed via ‘torrents’, a method of sharing large digital files online.

“Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which frames its purpose as “safeguarding humanity’s information and culture”.

Model Development and Intellectual Property Debate

Ed Newton-Rex for protecting artists’ copyright, said the breached music would probably be utilized for developing artificial intelligence systems.

“Training on illegally sourced material is sadly widespread in the AI industry, so this accessed music is almost certain to be used instructing AI models,” he stated.

The Anna’s Archive site alludes to LibGen, a huge online archive of copyrighted books that has allegedly been used by Meta to develop its AI models.

The co-founder of an artificial intelligence company wrote on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “create their own personal free equivalent of the service”. The executive said it could also enable tech companies to “train on modern music at a large volume”.

Intellectual property law has emerged as a battleground between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and tech giants on the other.

Policy Proposals and Responses

In the UK, artists and writers have protested against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies utilize protected work without permission unless the rights holder signals. Almost every participant to a government consultation on the idea has backed artists’ concerns.

The secretary of state for technology, innovation and development told parliament this month there was “no clear consensus” on the matter, adding that ministers would “use the time to get this correct”. The administration has pledged to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.