Activist group says it has scraped 86m music files from Spotify

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/22/activist-group-says-it-has-scraped-86m-music-files-from-spotify

27 Comments

  1. I’m going to guess Spotify will retaliate by jacking up the monthly subscription price..

  2. They’re trying to frame this as an AI issue versus creators’ rights, but the real loser is corporate exploitation of music. 

    They want you to hate this like you hate AI; but piracy has been resurging steadily since DRM and exploitative streaming models started squeezing consumers.

  3. I’ve been recording bbc radio 6 for the last year and just dumping it to a Google Drives. 250mb for 3 hours. Easier that a microphone and a c90

  4. Bobby-McBobster on

    I have absolutely no problem with piracy, but it’s ridiculous to claim that this is activism. Anna’s archive is a piracy website that tries to give itself good conscience.

  5. Sufficient-Bid1279 on

    So like if everyone starts pirating again, what are they gonna do? Go after everyone? Lol

  6. Both sides are peddling a false moral argument as to why they are in the right. Spotify’s main interest isn’t protecting creators, and piracy in archival pursuits is still harmful to artists. This is a battle to maintain scarcity around a product that is inherently not scarce, as it’s just sequenced bits. The music should be free. Using it in pursuit of profit, shouldn’t be. It makes the most sense to me that artists should make their money by 1) receiving donations from a community 2) licensing use of their work in other media like videos, movies, and TV shows 3) selling merchandise 4) selling concert tickets.

  7. Odd_Communication545 on

    I mean anyone can just screen record every film they watch or TV show. Just record PC audio whilst listening on Spotify.

  8. Sweet I’ve always wanted to make it to the point as an artist where people are pirating my shit, fuck yeah

    (I have 24 monthly listeners, this is an improvement, haha)

  9. Friendly reminder that Bandcamp exists and on certain Fridays, your favorite working artists will get 100% of all proceeds from buying digital content.

  10. Jokes on them. I have never paid for a streaming service and never will.

    All my music is tagged, pictured, and synced to my phone via syncthing bridge.

    Fuck streaming service bs.

  11. I use 3rd party websites to download my Spotify playlists.

    I’m not paying then monthly fees for something I used to own.