Drake is taking authorized motion towards Common Music Group and Spotify over allegations that the businesses labored collectively to artificially inflate the success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
In a “pre-action” petition filed in Manhattan federal court docket on Monday, Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC accused UMG of participating in an unlawful “scheme” that concerned utilizing bots to spice up “Not Like Us”‘s reputation on Spotify and making “covert funds” to radio stations to extend the music’s airplay (by way of Billboard).
Drake claims to have an “inside supply” who knowledgeable him of UMG’s scheme.
“UMG didn’t depend on probability, and even bizarre enterprise practices,” attorneys for Drake’s firm wrote of their submitting. “It as a substitute launched a marketing campaign to govern and saturate the streaming providers and airwaves.”
Initially launched on Might 4th as a part of a collection of back-and-forth diss tracks between Lamar and Drake, the monitor proceeded to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Scorching 100, turned the quickest rap music on Spotify to build up 700 million streams, and just lately earned 5 Grammy nominations, together with File and Track of the 12 months.
Drake and Lamar each keep lively associations with UMG by its subsidiaries: Drake is signed to Republic Information, whereas Lamar distributes his music by way of Interscope. In accordance with Drake’s attorneys, the alleged motivation behind the scheme to advertise “Not Like Was” was partly pushed by “the need of executives at Interscope to maximise their very own earnings.”
This previous Friday, Lamar shock launched his newest album, GNX.