Rapper Drake’s company Frozen Moments filed a lawsuit in New York on Monday, accusing streaming services Spotify and Universal Music Group of colluding to inflate streaming numbers for Kendrick Lamar’s hit diss song “Not Like Us.” filed a complaint with the court.
Results of “different from us” Lamar and Drake’s beef of the weekbroke records on Billboard’s rap charts and remained at the top spot throughout the summer. Frozen Moments, described in the filing as a “wholly owned entity by Drake,” claims that UMG has used bots and paid subscriptions to “manipulate and saturate streaming services and the airwaves” with “Not Like Us.” “It has started,” he claims.
According to the complaint, the song was licensed to Spotify at a 30% discount in exchange for more recommendations to users. The song has now been streamed more than 900 million times on Spotify, according to the service. The petition also alleges that UMG used bots to increase streaming numbers for “Not Like Us,” paid radio promoters to increase airplay, and even paid tech giant Apple to increase the number of streams for “Not Like Us.” The company claims its assistant, Siri, misdirected users to Lamar’s hit songs.
A UMG spokesperson called the allegations “offensive and false.”
“We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “No matter how contrived and unreasonable the legal arguments in this pre-litigation filing, we cannot hide the fact that our fans choose the music they want to hear.”
Representatives for Spotify, Apple, and Drake and Lamar did not immediately respond to CBS News’ requests for comment.
UMG owns both Lamar’s label, Interscope, and Republic Records, where Drake spent his entire career. Drake has referenced UMG CEO Lucian Grainge numerous times in his lyrics over the years, including on 2023’s “Away From Home,” including “Who’s the CEO of Universal? They got it wrong because Google says Lucian, but that doesn’t make any sense. Who is that?” he raps. Who fills up the piggy bank? Who brings home the bacon?” This line is the second most streamed artist on Spotify behind Taylor Swift, and for the label Drake (Big Machine Records is also distributed by UMG).
According to the petition, UMG fired some employees deemed loyal to Drake during the label feud with Lamar and attempted negotiations by insisting that Drake negotiate directly with Lamar rather than the label. It is said that he refused.
The petition filed Monday is not a lawsuit, but a preliminary motion aimed at gathering more information from UMG and Spotify for civil claims under the racketeer law, commonly referred to as RICO.
The lawsuit comes just days after Lamar released his first album since the beef scandal, GNX. Lamar has addressed this feud multiple times within the project, including Snoop Dogg posting one of his songs dissing Drake and Lil Wayne being upset that Lamar was headlining. mentioned. 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show In New Orleans.
