Drake Accuses Universal Music Group and Spotify of “Illegally” Boosting Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” Streams in New Legal Filing

Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC has issued a new lawsuit in Manhattan court accusing Universal Music Group and Spotify of “unlawfully” boosting streams of Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-nominated diss track “Not Like Us” by allegedly using bots, secret payments and biased recommendations, according to court documents seen by Pitchfork. “UMG did not rely on chance or even ordinary business practices,” lawyers for the Canadian rapper’s company wrote. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”

Drake’s lawyers 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 lawyers claim they tried to “meet and confer with UMG” for the past several months, but the label “refused to engage in substantive negotiations” and instead reportedly insisted they take it up with Lamar directly.

In their pre-action motion, Drake’s lawyers are seeking numerous documents from UMG and Spotify, including proof of payment or reduced license fees provided to the streaming platform in exchange for promoting “Not Like Us,” and the identity 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 that Spotify recommended “Not Like Us” to users searching for “unrelated songs and artists” as a result of UMG’s reduced licensing fees, that a UMG employee paid an independent radio promoter to “pass those payments” to radio stations that aired the song and that the brand paid influencers to promote the song on social media.

One particularly specific claim that Drake’s lawyers make in these documents is that UMG paid Apple Inc. to make Siri “intentionally mislead” users to “Not Like Us” when asking Siri to play Drake’s 2021 album Certified Lover Boy. (Of course, “Not Like Us” includes the infamous lyric and the claim “Certified Lover Boy?/ Certified pedophile.”)

Drake’s lawyers paint a picture in the legal filings of UMG suppressing its own staff who spoke out against these alleged actions, writing: “(We) received information that UMG has taken steps in an apparent attempt to conceal its schemes, including, but not limited to, terminating employees associated with or perceived to be loyal to Drake.”

A spokesperson for Universal Music Group denied Drake’s claims in a statement, writing: “The suggestion that UMG would go out of its way to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotions. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action post can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”

“Not Like Us” debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in May, and has since remained one of the most popular songs of 2024. Drake’s line, “Family Matters,” landed at No. 7 on the singles chart. His last album, For all dogswas released last October, while Lamar surprise released a new full-length on Friday with the title GNX.

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