Spotify says it has strengthened its security systems after a group known as Anna’s Archive claimed it copied tens of millions of songs from the streaming platform.
The group says it has archived roughly 86 million tracks and intends to distribute them through torrent files.
According to Anna’s Archive, the archived content represents about 37 percent of Spotify’s overall music catalog. However, the group claims those tracks account for nearly 99.6 percent of total listening activity on the platform. The songs were reportedly collected using Spotify’s popularity data, starting with the most frequently played tracks.
The group has already released an initial torrent containing metadata rather than audio files. This data reportedly covers about 99.9 percent of Spotify’s estimated 256 million tracks and includes details such as song titles, artist names, and album artwork. Anna’s Archive says it plans to release the full music files at a later date, with the total data size expected to reach around 300 terabytes.
Anna’s Archive describes itself as the world’s largest shadow library and says the project is intended to preserve music for the future. The group claims its analysis of the metadata shows that Electronic and Dance music make up the largest share of tracks on Spotify, while 120 beats per minute is the most common tempo across the catalog.
While Anna’s Archive is best known for archiving books and academic research, it says it recently discovered a way to collect Spotify data on a large scale. The group has previously faced legal pressure, and last month, Google said it removed hundreds of millions of links related to Anna’s Archive following copyright complaints.
Spotify confirmed it has taken action in response to the claims. A company spokesperson said Spotify identified and disabled accounts involved in unlawful data scraping. The company also said it has implemented new safeguards to prevent similar activity and is actively monitoring the platform for suspicious behavior.
If this article helped you, please consider supporting our work. Every small contribution keeps Abijita.com independent and running.
Spotify added that it continues to support artists and rights holders and is working closely with industry partners to protect creative work and combat piracy.
