Drake Claims UMG, Spotify “Artificially Inflated” Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”

Rather than, “rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” the filing claims that UMG “instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves,” according to Billboard.

“UMG … conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots’ to artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us’ and deceive consumers into believing the song was more popular than it was in reality,” the filing also states, while arguing that the UMG did this “at least in part, by the desire of executives at Interscope to maximize their own profits.”

“Executives at Interscope have been incentivized to maximize the financial success of Interscope through the promotion of ‘Not Like Us’ and its revitalizing impact on the artist’s prior recording catalog,” the filing continues.

What’s notable about the filing is that UMG has been Drake’s home throughout his entire career, with the music corporation being the parent company of Republic Records, the label that serves as a distributor for Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, which Drake was a part of before he signed with Republic directly.

Billboard also noted that Lamar is also part of UMG, thanks to his connections to Interscope Records, which is under UMG. His company, pgLang, is licensed through Interscope; the label also serves as a distributor for Top Dawg Entertainment, which Lamar was a part of.

A spokesman for UMG told Billboard that it denies Drake’s claims, saying to the outlet: “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.”

As Billboard pointed out, the filing isn’t a lawsuit yet but instead a “pre-trial” petition, which is “a procedure under New York law that aims to secure information before filing a lawsuit.”