Spotify is investigating claims that a piracy-linked group has millions of music tracks and data from the platform without authorization.
The claims were made in a recent blog post from Anna’s Archive, a site best known for backing up books and academic research. In a post published on December 20, the group claimed it had scraped metadata for around 256 million tracks and archived audio files for roughly 86 million songs, which it says represents 99.6 percent of all listens on Spotify.
According to the post, the full dataset weighs in at just under 300TB and is being distributed via bulk torrents and sorted by popularity.
Following widespread reporting, Spotify has now publicly acknowledged the situation.
Spotify investigating illegal music copying
In a statement shared with Android Authority, a Spotify spokesperson confirmed the company is actively investigating unauthorized access to the platform.
“An investigation into unauthorized access identified that a third party scraped public metadata and used illicit tactics to circumvent DRM to access some of the platform’s audio files. We are actively investigating the incident,” Spotify said.
While the site claims its archive covers nearly the entirety of Spotify’s listening data, Spotify has only said that “some” audio files were accessed. It has not been confirmed how much content may ultimately be affected or whether legal action will follow.
Anna’s Archive has framed the project as a preservation effort, arguing that large volumes of lesser-known music could disappear if streaming platforms lose licenses or shut down. The group described Spotify as “a great start” for preserving modern music history.
Despite the preservation framing, mass scraping and redistribution of copyrighted music violate Spotify’s terms of service and copyright law in many regions. For now, the true scope of the incident remains unclear as Spotify’s investigation continues.
