Drake’s court filing, UMG’s response, and reactions

NEW YORK: Hip hop musician Aubrey Drake Graham’s Frozen Moments LLC, filed a petition on Monday alleging that UMG Recordings, Inc. and Spotify USA Inc. used underhanded tactics to boost the streams and thus the prominence of Kendrick Lamar’s hit song, “Not Like Us”. 

“Not Like Us” was the final entree into a multiple diss track war between two of the most prominent Hop Hop musicians in the world today, Drake and Kendrick Lamar. It seemed as if Lamar had gotten the last laugh after he released the aforementioned track, which quickly became the song of the summer, breaking the record for most weeks at number one on Billboard’s hot Rap Songs chart. 

However, Drake is trying to revive his feud with Lamar. But this time, he’s pivoting from rap, and instead going to court. The petition filed on Drake’s behalf state UMG and Spotify have a “long standing, symbiotic business relationship,” and alleges that partnership extened to a “campaign to manipulate and saturate [Spotify] and airwaves with a song, “Not Like Us,” in order to make that song go viral, by using “bots” and pay-to-play agreements.”

In regards to the ‘pay-to-play agreements,” the petition claims that based on “information and belief,” Spotify reccomended the song to users who were “searching for other unrelated songs and artists,” in return for UMG charging the streaming service licensing rates that were 30 per cent lower than usual. 

Elton John gets candid about his health issues

In regards to the ‘bots’, the petition calims that UMG paid “currently unknown parties”, to use ‘bots’, or software applicaitons which repeatedly stream songs on Spotify, in order to “inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us.” The petition goes on to reference a podcaster who claimed that he was contacted by an individual affiliated with Lamar’s label Interscope Records, which is owned by UMG, in order to use ‘bots’ to create 30,000,000 artificial streams on Spotify. The podcaster claims that he was paid $2500 and promised an additional $2500, along with a “percentage of the Song’s total sales for this initial push.”

It is important to note that Drake is signed to Republic Records, which is also owned by UMG.

UMG RESPONSE

UMG denied the allegation put forth in the petition, stating that “the suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue.” They added that “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.”

REACTIONS 

DJ Mustard, the man who produced “Not Like Us” and parts of Lamar’s recently released album “GNX”, expressed his surprise to the petition on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“OMG lmfaooooo,” Mustard wrote in repsonse to a tweet from the President of Lamar’s former label, who wrote “Naaaaaahhhhh. The rap streets is done. SMH.”

Prominent American radio host, Charlamagne tha God, also offered his two cents. “Come On Man. Because you lost a rap battle? Dot said Squabble Up Not Lawyer Up. I’m just here for the chaos. Let’s Discuss,” Charlamagne wrote on Instagram. 

TW: Lawsuit filed against West alleges “pornographic gagging”