Spotify, one of the world’s most popular online music platforms, has begun taking strict measures following allegations that data in its library was copied without permission. The company was prompted to act after a shadow library site called Anna’s Archive announced it had obtained almost the entire music archive on the platform. The site claims to have created a massive archive by copying audio files and metadata from the system.

Shock for the music giant: 99% of the library copied

In a blog post published on December 20th, the website announced it had collected 300 terabytes of data from Spotify. This data reportedly comprises approximately 256 million music tracks, representing 99.6% of the platform’s total library. The site has so far released a group of 86 million files consisting of the most popular tracks. Describing this action as a “protection effort,” the site management also requested donations from users.

In a statement, Spotify officials confirmed that malicious user accounts involved in the illegal data scraping operations have been identified and closed. A company spokesperson stated that they have implemented new security measures against copyright infringements and are actively monitoring suspicious behavior. Spotify emphasized that since its inception, it has stood by the artist community and worked with industry partners to combat piracy and protect the rights of creators.

Anna’s Archive, in a statement, stressed that the published metadata is only the first step in their plans regarding the Spotify data they have collected. The group announced that they plan to release the music files they have acquired in order of popularity. They also stated that they will share album covers and patch files necessary to recreate the files in the future. The site claims that their database is the largest publicly available archive of music metadata.

What are your thoughts on this major battle between digital content protection and internet piracy?