The “God’s Plan” rapper, Drake has blamed Universal Music Group and Spotify for promoting illegally Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” wrote attorneys for the Canadian rapper’s company. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
According to the Pitchfork source, Drake’s attorneys accuse UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), implementing deceptive pay-to-play business practices, and using false advertising under New York state law.
In court documents, his attorneys claim they tried to “meet and confer with UMG” for the past several months,” but the label “declined to enter into substantive negotiations” and instead allegedly insisted that they take it up with Lamar directly.
In their pre-action petition, Drake’s lawyers seek countless documents from UMG and Spotify, including proof of payment or reduced licensing fees provided to the streaming platform in exchange for promoting “Not Like Us,” and the identities of third parties that UMG allegedly hired to use bots to increase streams of the song or music video. At one point in the legal documents, Drake’s lawyers claim Spotify recommended “Not Like Us” to users who searched for “unrelated songs and artists” as a result of UMG’s reduced licensing fees, that a UMG employee paid an independent radio promoter to “transfer those payments” to radio stations who aired the song, and that the label paid influencers to promote the song on social media.
Drake’s lawyers paint a picture in the legal filings of UMG suppressing its staff who spoke out against these alleged actions, writing, “[We] 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.”
A Universal Music Group spokesperson denied Drake’s claims in a statement, writing, “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.”
Drake Blames Universal Music Group and Spotify of Promoting Illegally Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” Streams in New Legal Filing
