00:00Spotify scraped after third-party accesses public metadata.
00:04Spotify has been cleared of a potential security breach, putting all hacking rumors to rest.
00:09However, there's more to the incident that sent the internet, more specifically, Spotify users, into a frenzy.
00:16A third-party scraper reportedly made an unauthorized data scrape, accessing metadata and audio files.
00:22Spotify's 86 million audio files scraped after third-party access.
00:27Reports indicate that Spotify's music library has been scraped by a pirate activist group.
00:32According to an Anna's Archive blog post, the data mining operation released 86 million audio files and 256 million rows of metadata on P2P networks.
00:44The scraped data totaled roughly 300 terabytes.
00:48However, an updated report released on Sunday, December 21, unveiled that the group only released metadata, not songs.
00:54The blog also suggested that this is a preservation archive effort.
00:59For those intrigued, it means an attempt to protect music from disappearing if streaming platforms lose licenses.
01:06Of course, Spotify doesn't have all the music in the world, but it's a great start, the post read.
01:11However, Spotify isn't on the same page and has confirmed unauthorized access.
01:16In a statement given to Billboard, a representative said,
01:20An 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.
01:31We are actively investigating the incident.
01:34Meanwhile, reactions to the initial report by Anna's Archive poured in in no time.
01:38A detailed one is a LinkedIn post from Joav Zimmerman, CEO co-founder of ThirdShare.
01:44Commenting on the unauthorized scrap, he wrote,
01:47Anyone can now, in theory, create their own personal free version of Spotify with enough storage and a personal media streaming server like Plex.
01:54The only real barriers are copyright law and fear of enforcement.
01:58Zimmerman further highlighted that the incident could overshadow MusicBrainz, the largest open music archive,
02:03which boasts around 5 million unique tracks.
02:07Notably, Spotify's total audio files surpass the number mentioned in Anna's archive.
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