Drake, via his company Frozen Moments LLC, has accused Universal Music Group and Spotify of a scheme to “artificially inflate” Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, Not Like Us.
As first reported by the Independent today (November 25), lawyers for Drake’s company have filed a petition in New York claiming that “bots” and other methods were used to boost numbers for Lamar’s Not Like Us.
The petition, which you can read in full here, alleges that UMG “launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song, Not Like Us, in order to make that song go viral, including by using ‘bots’ and pay-to-play agreements.”
A spokesperson for Universal Music Group told MBW: “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns.
“No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”
Both Drake and Lamar release their records via UMG and its Republic Records and Interscope, respectively.
“No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”
Universal Music Group spokesperson
Not Like Us (Interscope), recorded by Lamar as part of a bitter rap feud with Drake, was released on May 4 as part of a series of three diss tracks, all released within a few days of each other (the other tracks are Euphoria and Meet The Grahams).
The track reached No.1 on the Hot 100, marking Lamar’s fourth-ever US No.1, and his second this year, following Like That by Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar, which hit No.1 in April. The track also marked the first US No.1 for Not Like Us producer Mustard.
Not Like Us has been nominated for five Grammys and has been streamed over 914 million times on Spotify alone.
Elsewhere in the petition, Drake’s lawyers claim that, “On information and belief, UMG charged Spotify licensing rates 30 percent lower than its usual licensing rates for Not Like Us in exchange for Spotify affirmatively recommending the Song to users who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists.”
It continues to allege: “UMG nor Spotify disclosed that Spotify had received compensation of any kind in exchange for recommending the Song.”
The filing claims that Drake has also “received information that UMG has been taking steps in an apparent effort to conceal its schemes, including, but not limited to, by terminating employees associated with or perceived as having loyalty to Drake.”
The filing concludes that “streaming and licensing is a zero-sum game” and that “Every time a song ‘breaks through,’ it means another artist does not. UMG’s choice to saturate the music market with ‘Not Like Us’ comes at the expense of its other artists, like Drake.”
As noted by The Independent, Drake’s petition accuses UMG and Spotify ‘of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), as well as the NY Deceptive Business Act and the NY False Advertising Act’.
In a separate report published on Monday, Bilboard noted that the filing isn’t a lawsuit, but rather a ‘pre-action petition’, which the publication noted is ‘a procedure under New York law that aims to secure information before filing a lawsuit’.
Spotify has declined to comment.Music Business Worldwide