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An activist organization has stated to have harvested a vast number of tracks from Spotify and is getting ready to release them online.

Possible Boost for AI Training

Observers said the seeming leak could boost artificial intelligence firms searching for data to develop their technology.

An entity 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. The company, which carries more than 100 million tracks, stated that the breach did not constitute its entire catalog.

“We have located and deactivated the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” said a company spokesperson.

The Stockholm-based service, which has more than 700 million users worldwide, further explained that an investigation into unauthorized access found a third party collected public metadata and employed illicit tactics to bypass DRM protections.

Group's Declared Mission and Concerns

Spotify does not believe the music acquired by Anna’s Archive has been made public yet. Anna’s Archive, which is recognized for offering links to copyright-infringing books, said in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music.

The group asserted the audio files accounted for 99.6% of all music listened to by Spotify users and would be distributed via ‘torrents’, a means of exchanging large data 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 describes its mission as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and heritage”.

Model Development and Copyright Debate

Ed Newton-Rex for defending artists’ copyright, remarked the breached music would probably be used for developing artificial intelligence systems.

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

The Anna’s Archive site makes references to a large online archive, a vast online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been used by the parent company of Facebook to train its systems.

A founder of an AI startup wrote on LinkedIn that individuals of the public could in principle “build their own private free version of Spotify”. He added it could also allow tech companies to “train on modern music at a large volume”.

Intellectual property law has become a key issue between creatives, authors and creatives on one side and AI companies on the other.

Government Proposals and Reactions

In the UK, artists and writers have protested against a ministerial suggestion to allow AI companies use copyright-protected work without consent unless the owner signals. Almost every participant to a government call for evidence on the idea has supported artists’ apprehensions.

The secretary of state for technology, innovation and development told parliament this month there was “little 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.