Universal Music Group (UMG) has responded to allegations by UMG artist Drake that it conspired with Spotify to artificially boost the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” in a blockbuster legal filing on Monday (Nov. 25).
“The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue,” to said the company in a statement sent to Billboard. “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.”
In the filing, Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC accused UMG — where the rapper is signed via the company’s Republic Records — of embarking on an illegal “scheme” to inflate the popularity of Lamar’s hit song, which served as an attack on Drake amid the two stars’ ongoing feud. Lamar’s company pgLang is licensed through UMG’s Interscope Records, which distributed “Not Like Us.”
Among other claims, Drake’s attorneys accused UMG of charging Spotify reduced licensing rates in exchange for the streamer recommending “Not Like Us” to users of the service who had searched for “unrelated songs and artists”; paying influencers to boost the song on social media; and hiring bots to fraudulently boost the song’s numbers. He also alleges that UMG paid Apple to have its Siri voice assistant “purposely misdirect users” to the song (notably, Apple is not named as a respondent in the filing).
In the petition, Drake’s lawyers also claimed that the rapper raised the issue with UMG before going to court, but said the company has “no interest in asking responsibility for its misconduct” and instead tried to conceal its alleged wrongdoing, including by firing staffers loyal to Drake. Additionally, the petition claimed that UMG insisted he sue Lamar instead of the label when he complained.
Monday’s filing, which also accused Spotify of wrongdoing, is not yet a lawsuit but rather a “pre-action” petition — a procedure under New York law with the aim of securing information before filing a lawsuit. Parties named in those petitions will not necessarily be targeted in an eventual lawsuit.
