Spotify, Sony, Warner and UMG sue shadow library over the scraping of 86 million tracks

Back in December, Anna’s Archive attempted to “back up” Spotify, allegedly scraping the platform’s metadata and audio files in an attempt to compile a free “preservation archive” of modern music. However, Spotify is suing those behind the project, saying it violates the platform’s terms of service and US copyright law.

Backed by Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, Spotify has accused Anna’s Archive of scraping the metadata of around 256 million tracks, as well as audio files for 86 million songs, without authorisation. The could see the defendants liable to pay almost $13 trillion – yes, TRILLION – in damages.

Now, given $13 trillion is a not-insignificant percentage of yearly gross domestic product of the entire United States, it’s unlikely the figure the defendants are ordered to pay – if the suit is successful – will be even close to that. But that number is calculated based on the highest sum the US allows a party to sue another for over intentional breach of copyright law. With Spotify claiming the maximum of $150,000 in damages for 86 million songs, that’s 150k multiplied by 86 million. In other words: big number.

When Anna’s Archive first shared news of its mass “preservation archive” project, Spotify was hot on its tail. The streaming giant shared a statement confirming it had identified and disabled the accounts responsible, stating: “Spotify has identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,”

“We’ve implemented new safeguards for these types of anti-copyright attacks and are actively monitoring for suspicious behaviour. Since day one, we have stood with the artist community against piracy, and we are actively working with our industry partners to protect creators and defend their rights.”

Newly available documents reveal that Spotify and its supporting trio of major record labels originally originally filed a for a preliminary injunction, which was issued by Judge Jed S Rakoff on 2 January. A preliminary injunction is usually an attempt to keep things civil before pursuing more drastic measures, with the document also enforcing a temporary restraining order against Anna’s Archive to cease its project.

According to the document, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York requested that the defendants appear in court on 16 January. Anna’s Archive did not attend. With no word from the defendants, things have seemingly escalated.

In the official complaint, Anna’s Archive has been branded as “a band of anonymous internet pirates who disregard the law” who have carried out an act of “audacious theft of millions of files encompassing nearly all commercial sound recordings worldwide”.

The complaint sees Spotify suing Anna’s Archive over counts of copyright infringement, breach of contract, as well as violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The document notes that “such widespread and illegal infringement would irreparably harm the music industry”.

In other Spotify news, the platform has recently risen its prices for US customers by $1-2 dependant on subscription plan. This year has also seen Daniel Ek stepping down as CEO, with his final year of leadership also seeing him investing €600 million in AI weapons company Helsing, a decision that saw multiple artists removing their music from the platform in protest.