Drake is taking legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify over allegations that the companies worked together to artificially inflate the success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
In a “pre-action” petition filed in Manhattan federal court on Monday, Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC accused UMG of engaging in an illegal “scheme” that involved using bots to boost “Not Like Us”‘s popularity on Spotify and making “covert payments” to radio stations to increase the song’s airplay (via Billboard).
Drake claims to have an “inside source” who informed him of UMG’s scheme.
“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” attorneys for Drake’s company wrote in their filing. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
Related Video
Originally released on May 4th as part of a series of back-and-forth diss tracks between Lamar and Drake, the track proceeded to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, became the fastest rap song on Spotify to accumulate 700 million streams, and recently earned five Grammy nominations, including Record and Song of the Year.
Drake and Lamar both maintain active associations with UMG through its subsidiaries: Drake is signed to Republic Records, while Lamar distributes his music via Interscope. According to Drake’s attorneys, the alleged motivation behind the scheme to promote “Not Like Us” was partly driven by “the desire of executives at Interscope to maximize their own profits.”
This past Friday, Lamar surprise released his latest album, GNX.
