Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC has issued a brand new authorized submitting in Manhattan courtroom, accusing Common Music Group and Spotify of “illegally” boosting streams of Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-nominated diss monitor “Not Like Us” by allegedly utilizing bots, undisclosed funds, and biased suggestions, in line with courtroom paperwork seen by Pitchfork. “UMG didn’t depend on probability, and even peculiar enterprise practices,” wrote attorneys for the Canadian rapper’s firm. “It as a substitute launched a marketing campaign to control and saturate the streaming providers and airwaves.”
Drake’s attorneys accuse UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), implementing misleading pay-to-play enterprise practices, and utilizing false promoting underneath New York state regulation. In courtroom paperwork, his attorneys declare they tried to “meet and consult with UMG” for the previous a number of months,” however the label “declined to enter into substantive negotiations” and as a substitute allegedly insisted that they take it up with Lamar straight.
Of their pre-action petition, Drake’s attorneys search numerous paperwork from UMG and Spotify, together with proof of fee or diminished licensing charges offered to the streaming platform in change for selling “Not Like Us,” and the identities of third events that UMG allegedly employed to make use of bots to extend streams of the music or music video. At one level within the authorized paperwork, Drake’s attorneys declare Spotify really helpful “Not Like Us” to customers who looked for “unrelated songs and artists” because of UMG’s diminished licensing charges, {that a} UMG worker paid an impartial radio promoter to “switch these funds” to radio stations who aired the music, and that the label paid influencers to advertise the music on social media.
A notably particular declare that Drake’s attorneys make in these paperwork is that UMG paid Apple Inc. to have Siri “purposely misdirect” customers to “Not Like Us” after they ask Siri to play Drake’s 2021 album Certified Lover Boy. (After all, “Not Like Us” contains the notorious lyric and allegation “Licensed Lover Boy?/ Licensed pedophile.”)
Drake’s attorneys paint an image within the authorized filings of UMG suppressing its personal workers who spoke out towards these alleged actions, writing, “[We] obtained data that UMG has been taking steps in an obvious effort to hide its schemes, together with, however not restricted to, by terminating staff related to or perceived as having loyalty to Drake.”
A Common Music Group spokesperson denied Drake’s claims in a press release, writing, “The suggestion that UMG would do something to undermine any of its artists is offensive and unfaithful. We make use of the very best moral practices in our advertising and promotional campaigns. No quantity of contrived and absurd authorized arguments on this pre-action submission can masks the truth that followers select the music they need to hear.”
“Not Like Us” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 again in Might, and has since remained one of the vital common songs of 2024. Drake’s retort, “Family Matters,” landed at No. 7 on the singles chart. His final album, For All the Dogs, got here out in October of final 12 months, whereas Lamar shock launched a brand new full-length this previous Friday titled GNX.
