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Drake has launched legal action against Universal Music and Spotify, accusing them of artificially boosting streams of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track against him, 'Not Like Us'.
In papers filed in New York, Drake’s company, Frozen Moments LLC, accused the companies of engaging in an illegal ”scheme” involving bots, payola and other methods to promote Lamar’s song.
Universal Music ”did not rely on chance,” Drake’s lawyers alleged. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
A spokesperson for Universal called the claims “offensive and untrue”, adding that “fans choose the music they want to hear”.
Spotify and Lamar have yet to respond.
The petition is not a full lawsuit but a so-called “pre-action petition”, under which Drake’s lawyers can to ask the court to order Universal and Spotify to preserve all relevant documents and information, ahead of future legal action.
'Not Like Us' was widely seen as the decisive blow in an escalating rap beef between Drake and Lamar earlier this year.
Drake’s court filing highlights the song’s runaway success - 96 million streams in seven days, number one in the US charts, and a top 10 radio hit - but suggests those achievements were artificially inflated.
His lawyers claim that Universal “conspired with and paid currently unknown parties” to “artificially” boost the prominence of 'Not Like Us'.
They allege that the label cut its royalty rates for the song by 30%, in exchange for Spotify recommending it to users.
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