Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC has issued a new legal filing in a New York court, accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify of “illegally” boosting streams of Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-nominated diss track “Not Like Us” by allegedly using bots, undisclosed payments, and biased recommendations, according to court documents viewed by Pitchfork. “UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” wrote attorneys for the Canadian rapper’s company. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
Drake’s attorneys 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 attorneys claim they tried to “meet and confer with UMG” for the past several months,” but the label “declined to enter into substantive negotiations” and instead allegedly insisted that they take it up with Lamar directly.
In their pre-action petition, Drake’s lawyers seek countless documents from UMG and Spotify, including proof of payment or reduced licensing fees provided to the streaming platform in exchange for promoting “Not Like Us,” and the identities 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 Spotify recommended “Not Like Us” to users who searched for “unrelated songs and artists” as a result of UMG’s reduced licensing fees, that a UMG employee paid an independent radio promoter to “transfer those payments” to radio stations who aired the song, and that the label paid influencers to promote the song on social media.
A notably specific claim that Drake’s lawyers make in these documents is that UMG paid Apple Inc. to have Siri “purposely misdirect” users to “Not Like Us” when they ask Siri to play Drake’s 2021 album Certified Lover Boy. (Of course, “Not Like Us” includes the infamous lyric and allegation “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 been taking steps in an apparent effort to conceal its schemes, including, but not limited to, by terminating employees associated with or perceived as having loyalty to Drake.”
A Universal Music Group spokesperson denied Drake’s claims in a statement, writing, “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.”
“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 last album, For All the Dogs, came out in October of last year, while Lamar surprise-released the new full-length, GNX, this past Friday.
