Image Source: pitchfork
It goes without saying that Kendrick Lamar’s diss track ‘Not Like Us’ has become the song of the year. The Grammy-nominated diss track is another milestone on Kendrick Lamar’s highly progressive musical journey while Drake found it really difficult to face the truth. It was even more frustrating for the Canadian rapper as everybody from around the world liked the song.
Unhappy Drake and his company Frozen Moments LLC made a legal filing against Universal Music Group and Spotify at the Manhattan Court and it claimed that the label had illegally boosted the song’s performance on the streaming sites. The attorney also said there was usage of bots, biased recommendations, and other tricks of illegal promotion.
The attorney wrote, “UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” and further added, “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.” They accused UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) through deceptive business practices such as pay-to-play and illegal advertising.
The lawyer also said that they have been trying to “meet and confer with UMG” for the last few months. However, UMG “declined to enter into substantive negotiations” and they asked Drake’s legal team to take it up with Kendrick Lamar directly.
In the pre-action petition of this legal case, lawyers from Drake’s team asked for countless documents from both Spotify and UMG which included proof of payment, reducing licensing fees that have been offered for illegal promotion of ‘Not Like Us’. They also asked for the identity of the third-party users whom UMG hired as bots to increase streams and engagement for the track.
Drake’s legal team also accused Spotify of recommending “Not Like Us” to the users who look for “unrelated songs and artists” for which UMG reduced the licensing fees. They also said that a UMG employee paid extra to the radio channels that aired the song and bribed influencers on social media to gain more traction.
They even accused Siri by Apple of misdirecting the users to ‘Not Like Us’ when they asked to play Drake’s 2021 album Certified Lover Boy. It could happen due to the lyricism as the song has this striking phrase, “Certified Lover Boy?/ Certified pedophile.”
UMG has clearly responded, “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.”
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