Spotify Ramps Up Defenses After Activists Rip 86 Million Songs

Spotify has deployed new "anti-copyright" protections after the activist group Anna's Archive announced it successfully ripped 86 million songs for torrent distribution, targeting 99.6% of all listens.

Spotify announced it has launched new protections against "anti-copyright attacks" following a stunning declaration from the activist group Anna's Archive. The group claims to have ripped 86 million songs from the streaming giant, with plans to make them widely available through torrents, as first reported by Billboard.

According to the group's statement, the scale of the operation targets the platform's most popular content. "We have archived around 86 million songs from Spotify, ordering by popularity descending," the group stated. "While this only represents 37 percent of songs, it represents around 99.6 percent of listens."

The initial torrent released by Anna's Archive reportedly contains metadata—such as album art, song titles, and artist names—for a staggering 99.9% of Spotify's entire catalog of roughly 256 million tracks. This move signals a highly organized effort not just to pirate audio, but to replicate the platform's searchable database.

PRISM Insight: This clash isn't just about piracy; it's a battle over the future of digital archives. Centralized platforms like Spotify are seen as both convenient libraries and vulnerable single points of failure, fueling a new generation of digital preservationists—or pirates, depending on your perspective. The incident exposes the core tension between intellectual property control and the growing movement to ensure digital culture outlives the platforms that host it.

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