Rapper Drake accused Universal Music Group of artificially inflating Spotify streams of Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us” in a court filing submitted in New York on Monday, the latest escalation in a months-long conflict between the two rappers.
The suit was filed by Drake’s firm Frozen Moments LLC. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
The petition—filed by Drake’s firm Frozen Moments LLC—accused UMG of launching “a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves” with “Not Like Us” by using bots and pay-to-play agreements to make the song go viral.
As part of the campaign, Drake’s attorneys alleged UMG charged Spotify discounted licensing rates for “Not Like Us” in exchange for Spotify pushing the song to users searching for unrelated songs and artists.
UMG was also accused of paying “currently unknown parties” to use bots to promote “Not Like Us” and the song’s music video, which has more than 178 million views on YouTube.
The filing argues Drake was harmed by the record label because the streaming business is a “zero-sum game,” and “UMG’s choice to saturate the music market with ‘Not Like Us’ comes at the expense of its other artists, like Drake.”
The filing petition argues Frozen Moments has cause to file a lawsuit for deceptive business practices and racketeering, and seeks to force UMG and Spotify to produce information—though it doesn’t specify who the defendant would be, or when a suit could be filed.
Spotify and UMG did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.