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Music streaming platform Spotify said on Monday it has disabled a number of user accounts linked to a piracy activist group that claimed to have copied tens of millions of tracks and extensive metadata from the service.
The group, known as Anna’s Archive, said in a blog post that it had “backed up” approximately 86 million Spotify audio files and metadata for about 256 million tracks in what it described as an effort to create an open “preservation archive” for music.
The group claimed the audio files represent more than 99.6% of Spotify’s total listening activity, while the metadata accounts for nearly all tracks available on the platform.
Spotify said the activity amounted to unlawful scraping and stressed that the incident had no impact on user accounts or personal data. “Spotify has identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” the company said in a statement to AFP. It added that it has implemented new safeguards and is actively monitoring for suspicious behaviour.
While the group suggested that the data could theoretically be used to build a free music archive, copyright experts note that any such use would likely prompt swift legal action from rights holders. Spotify reiterated its opposition to piracy, saying it continues to work closely with industry partners to protect artists and copyrighted content.
“Since day one, we have stood with the artist community against piracy,” Spotify said, adding that it remains committed to defending creators’ rights and preventing anti-copyright attacks on its platform.
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