Spotify and three major record labels have filed a major lawsuit against Anna’s Archive, accusing the site of widespread copyright violations. The plaintiffs are Spotify, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment.
The lawsuit claims Anna’s Archive scraped about 86 million music files from Spotify. It also alleges the site copied metadata for roughly 256 million tracks. The plaintiffs describe this as “brazen theft” covering nearly all commercial sound recordings worldwide.
Anna’s Archive operates as a shadow library and search engine. It is known for providing access to books, academic papers, and other digital media. In late 2025, the group said it had created a music preservation archive to save lesser-known recordings.
According to the lawsuit, the group shared music files using BitTorrent technology. The labels argue this went far beyond preservation and resulted in large-scale illegal distribution of copyrighted content.
The case was filed in December 2025 in a federal court in New York. It remained under seal until January 2026, when the court made the case public. A judge has since issued a preliminary injunction blocking access to several Anna’s Archive domains.
The plaintiffs are seeking up to $150,000 in damages per infringed track, which is the maximum allowed under U.S. law for willful copyright infringement. If fully awarded, the total damages could reach nearly $13 trillion.
In addition to direct copyright infringement, the lawsuit includes claims of breach of contract, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and breaches of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Anna’s Archive did not respond to the court summons.
The case highlights growing tension between major music companies and online preservation efforts. While no final ruling has been made, the scale of the claims and potential damages has sparked widespread debate online.
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