Court Awards $322 Million Default Judgment to Spotify and Major Labels Against Anna's Archive
A federal court has ruled in favor of Spotify and major music labels in a lawsuit against Anna's Archive, awarding $322 million in damages. The ruling includes a permanent injunction against the archive's operations and mandates the destruction of all illegally obtained music files.
webb-site.comSpotify and the three major labels won a $322 million default judgment against Anna's Archive on April 14, 2026. The ruling was issued by Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York after the unknown operator of Anna's Archive failed to respond to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed by Spotify, Universal Music Group (UMG), Warner Music Group (WMG), and Sony Music, was made publicly available in January.
2 million. Anna's Archive is an open-source library and pirate activist group that announced in December 2025 its intention to publicly release millions of music files scraped from Spotify's platform. The group stated it had ripped 86 million songs from Spotify and intended to create a preservation archive by distributing the files via BitTorrent.
In February 2026, Anna's Archive released torrents for almost three million music files. The court's ruling includes a permanent injunction requiring internet service providers to block the Anna's Archive website and an order for the group to destroy all copies of works scraped from Spotify.
Story Timeline
4 events- 2026-04-14
Spotify and major labels win a $322 million default judgment against Anna's Archive.
1 sourceThe Verge - 2026-02
Anna's Archive released torrents for almost three million music files.
1 sourceThe Verge - 2025-12
Anna's Archive announced it had ripped 86 million songs from Spotify.
1 sourceThe Verge - 2026-01
The lawsuit filed by Spotify and major labels was made publicly available.
1 sourceThe Verge
Potential Impact
- 01
Internet service providers will need to implement measures to block Anna's Archive.
- 02
The ruling may deter similar future actions by other pirate groups.
- 03
The judgment could lead to increased scrutiny of open-source libraries.
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