Universal Music Group – or UMG – has responded to claims by UMG artist Drake that the company allegedly conspired with Spotify to artificially boost the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” in a blockbuster legal filing on Monday, November 25.
Billboard reports that the company sent a statement to Billboard saying: “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 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 allegedly 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 allegedly charging Spotify reduced licensing rates in exchange for the streaming platform 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. Drake also claims that UMG allegedly paid Apple to have its Siri voice assistant “purposely misdirect users” to the song (it should be noted that 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 taking responsibility for its misconduct” and instead tried to conceal the alleged wrongdoing, including firing staffers loyal to Drake. Additionally, the petition claimed that UMG allegedly 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 such petitions will not necessarily be targeted in the event of a lawsuit.
This petition comes just days after Lamar suddenly dropped new album titled GNX. The album includes features from artists like SZA, Kamasi Washington, Jack Antonoff and more.
UMG’s statement about the petition also follows another statement the company had to make in reference to Limp Bizkit’s lawsuit against the organization, as well as copyright lawsuit filed by UMG against Believe and TrueCore for allegedly evading copyrights.
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