alleged in a court filing Monday that Universal Music Group falsely pumped up the popularity on Spotify and other streaming services of 鈥淣ot Like Us," a song that viciously attacked Drake amid a between the two hip-hop superstars.
The petition in a New York court by the Toronto rapper's company Frozen Moments LLC demands the preservation and divulgence of information that might be evidence in a potential lawsuit against UMG, which is the distributor for the record labels of both Drake and Lamar.
In allegations that UMG calls 鈥渙ffensive and untrue,鈥� the filing says the record company 鈥渓aunched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song, 鈥楴ot Like Us,鈥� in order to make that song go viral, including by using 鈥榖ots鈥� and pay-to-play agreements.鈥� It said the company and Spotify 鈥渉ave a long-standing, symbiotic business relationship鈥� and alleges that UMG offered special licensing rates to Spotify for the song.
The petition also says UMG has fired employees seen as loyal to Drake "in an apparent effort to conceal its schemes."
Universal Music Group said in a statement in response that the "suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. 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.鈥�
鈥淣ot Like Us,鈥� the wildly popular Lamar single released in May as part of a flurry of dueling tracks by the two artists, includes the lyrics, 鈥淪ay, Drake, I hear you like 鈥檈m young, You better not ever go to cell block one.鈥� It has gotten more than 900 million plays, according to figures listed on Spotify.
Spotify representatives declined immediate comment, but in a statement on a previous case, the company said it 鈥渋nvests heavily in automated and manual reviews to prevent, detect, and mitigate the impact of artificial streaming on our platform,鈥� and in broader public statements has said it has gone to great lengths to mitigate the effects of .
The feud between Drake, a 38-year-old rapper and singer who has won five Grammys and earlier this year became the first artist to top 100 billion streams on Spotify, and Lamar, a 37-year-old who is set to headline the next , is among the biggest in hip-hop in recent years, with two of the genre's biggest stars at its center.
The two were occasional collaborators more than a decade ago, but Lamar began taking public jabs at Drake starting in 2013. The fight earlier this year. The move to court, while not yet a lawsuit, still represents a major escalation of the feud and involves some of the biggest business partners of both men.
Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press
