Spotify seeks $300M from Anna's Archive, which ignores all court proceedings

March 27, 2026

Here's something that caught my attention — Spotify and big record labels are trying to hit Anna's Archive with a $322 million default judgment. Why? Because this shadow library scraped millions of songs from Spotify's streaming service. According to Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica, the music giants want Anna’s Archive kicked off the web for good by blocking its domain and hosting. But the thing is — Anna's Archive has ignored court orders and has already changed providers, making it harder to shut down completely. Even though a court ordered the original domain to be taken down, the site just moved elsewhere and keeps going. What Brodkin points out is that suing and blocking like this is becoming a game of whack-a-mole. So, the real question is — how effective can these legal moves be when the site just keeps bouncing back? And get this — Anna’s Archive hasn’t responded to the lawsuit at all, which the court has certified as a default. So, the battle’s far from over, and it highlights just how tricky trying to shut down online shadow libraries really is.

Spotify and major record labels are seeking a $322 million default judgment from Anna's Archive, which hasn't responded to court proceedings over its scraping of millions of music files from Spotify's streaming service.

The music companies are also seeking a permanent injunction in an attempt to eject the Anna's Archive website from the Internet by cutting off its access to domain and hosting providers. But the plaintiffs previously obtained a similar injunction that proved to be little more than an inconvenience for the shadow library, which has changed providers and said it's working on bolstering its ability to remain online in the face of court orders.

The music companies sued Anna’s Archive in late December and quickly obtained a court order that shut down the shadow library's .org domain, though Anna's Archive has remained online elsewhere. Anna's Archive has filed no response to the lawsuit in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the clerk of court last month certified that the defendant is in default.

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