Drake has alleged that Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify artificially boosted Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us diss track, that was aimed at him.
Lawyers representing the Canadian artist’s firm Frozen Moments LLC filed a legal petition at a court in Manhattan on Monday making the claims.
It comes after Drake and Lamar, who are both signed to UMG labels, had a high-profile feud earlier this year, targeting one another with diss tracks.
This included Lamar’s Not Like Us single which has been streamed almost 900 million times and savagely attacked Drake, making serious allegations against him and those close to him.
The song proved to be a big hit as the row between the two hip-hop giants spilled into the public realm.
Such disagreements are not unusual in hip-hop but this one came between two artists who had previously collaborated on a number of songs.
‘Contrived and absurd legal arguments’
Drake has claimed that UMG worked to inflate the streams and radio plays of the diss track “to maximise” profits.
He claimed that UMG and Spotify artificially boosted the track’s streams “including by using ‘bots’ and pay-to-play agreements”.
In a statement to Sky News, UMG sharply denied the allegations, with a spokesperson calling them “offensive and untrue”.
They added: “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.”
In the legal petition, representatives of Drake claim: “It [UMG] instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song, ‘Not Like Us’, in order to make that song go viral.”
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It also claimed that UMG charged Spotify lower licensing rates than usual to play the song and that Spotify recommended the song to users searching for other content.
The petition also cites the claims of one individual made on a “popular podcast” that he was paid to use bots to inflate the song’s streams.
It also alleges that Apple digital assistant Siri “purposely misdirect[ed] users to ‘Not Like Us'” citing “online sources”.
Monday’s filing is not a full lawsuit but a pre-action petition – a procedure in New York that aims to secure information ahead of a lawsuit.
It isn’t clear if the proceedings will progress to a full lawsuit.
Sky News has approached Spotify and Apple for comment.
