The Internet Just Made a Free Copy of Nearly Spotify’s Entire Library

Disclaimer: This move is completely illegal, and ProPakistani does not endorse piracy.

Anna’s Archive claims it has managed to steal almost all of Spotify’s music and audio file library, representing roughly 99.6% of all listens. The metadata for 256 million tracks and audio files for 86 million songs was archived as part of this move. The group says the archive totals a whopping 300 terabytes.

Spotify says its platform was scraped at scale by Anna’s Archive, a group known for archiving books and academic research. In a statement shared with Android Authority, Spotify said it has identified and disabled the user accounts responsible for what it described as “unlawful” scraping activity.

According to Spotify, the company has also implemented new safeguards to counter similar anti-copyright attacks and is actively monitoring the platform for suspicious behavior. The streaming service reiterated that it has long opposed piracy and continues to work with industry partners to protect artists and rights holders.

Spotify previously acknowledged that a third party scraped public metadata and used illicit methods to bypass digital rights management in order to access some audio files on the platform. However, the company has not confirmed the scale of the incident described by Anna’s Archive.

Spotify’s statements stop short of confirming this scope, noting only that “some” audio files were accessed. At this stage, it remains unclear how much of Spotify’s catalog was actually affected or whether legal action will be taken to remove the scraped data from torrent distribution.

How The Archive Was Built

According to Anna’s Archive, the project is framed as a preservation effort rather than piracy. The group argues that while popular music is widely backed up, lesser-known tracks could disappear if streaming platforms lose licenses or shut down services. It described Spotify as a starting point for preserving modern music history.

The audio files in the archive are largely sourced directly from Spotify. Popular tracks are stored in their original 160kbps format, while less-played songs have been re-encoded to smaller files to reduce storage requirements. Releases after July 2025 may be missing from the archive.

At present, only metadata is fully available, while music files are being released gradually, beginning with the most frequently played tracks.

Still Illegal

Spotify licenses the majority of its music catalog under strict agreements with record labels and rights holders. Mass scraping and redistribution of audio files violates both Spotify’s terms of service and copyright laws in many jurisdictions.

Despite Anna’s Archive’s claims of preservation intent, copyright law generally does not recognize exemptions for such projects. Retaliatory responses from Spotify and major record labels are expected, including takedown notices or legal action, though it remains uncertain how effective those measures could be.