The RIAA just recently flagged the shadow library in a 15-page “Notorious Markets” filing submitted to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Therein, the organization reiterated that Anna’s Archive had allegedly downloaded and threatened to release nearly 90 million music files from Spotify.
And as many know, the moves set the stage for aggressive legal action from the labels and the DSP, which secured the aforementioned judgment and managed to decommission several of the relevant domains.
But actually collecting that judgment will prove challenging to say the least – the registrant’s identity is unknown, the USTR filing reiterates – and Anna’s Archive is still operating via different domains.
As those platforms and markets were part of the 2025 Notorious Markets list, they’ll presumably be incorporated into the 2026 edition as well.
Regarding which platforms didn’t make the new filing, stream-ripper Snaptube appeared in the 2025 submission but not the 2026 counterpart. And the RIAA omitted a couple download-focused sites (such as Newalbumreleases and Hiphopkit) this time around.
Perhaps these and others made way for the likes of Anna’s Archive and Lalals, a United Arab Emirates-based site that allegedly deals in “voice changing, voice cloning, text-to-speech, stem splitting, AI song generation, mastering, and AI cover tools.”
(The extensive offerings, among them soundalike vocal models for all manner of commercially prominent artists, aren’t cheap, either. Beyond a limited-functionality free tier, Plus and Pro will set one back $12.99 and a staggering $24.99 per month, respectively – a point worth keeping in mind as Suno, Spotify, and more prep authorized artist-specific products.)
Finally, while the RIAA’s Notorious Markets filing rather unsurprisingly overlaps with the IFPI’s EU Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List submission, certain sites made only one of the lists.
In the EU, where regulatory actions targeting American tech companies aren’t exactly unprecedented, the IFPI opted to take aim at X. But the Elon Musk-owned social platform, which is actively plugging major label releases and artists via its @Music account, isn’t part of the RIAA’s filing.
