Drake lawsuit

Drake’s Legal Team Mocks Spotify For Denying “Inflated” Streaming Allegations

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Drake believes he has a strong case against UMG and Spotify. The rapper has stated, categorically, that the label and streaming platform conspired to boost the streams of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” He has filed a motion to examine UMG and Spotify data to set the record straight. Spotify denied the 6 God and issued a statement dismissing his allegations. It didn’t take long for the rapper to issue a response of his own. Drake’s legal team made it clear that they are not going away until they get the information they want.

Let’s recap the Spotify denial. The streaming platform claimed that it has no “economic incentive” to boost the streams of “Not Like Us” over a Drake song. Furthermore, the company stated that they did not find any information to support the rapper’s claims regarding bots. Drake’s initial motion contained an allegation regarding an individual who used bots to boost “Not Like Us” streams by 30 million.” The platform also denied the allegation that UMG charged them 30% lower in terms of licensing rates to promote Kendrick Lamar’s diss.

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Drake Was Not Surprised By Spotify’s Denial

Drake’s legal team was nonplussed. They issued a statement within hours, and they claimed to have anticipated Spotify’s line of defense. “It is not surprising that Spotify is trying to distance themselves,” they wrote. “From UMG’s allegedly manipulative practices to artificially inflate streaming numbers on behalf of one of its other artists.” Drake’s representatives also restated their ultimate goal, which is to gain access to streaming data. As far as the rapper is concerned, UMG and Spotify should be willing to share as long as they are not guilty. “If Spotify and UMG have nothing to hide,” the statement concluded. “Then they should be perfectly fine complying with this basic discovery request.”

Drake has been widely ridiculed for his decision to take legal action. Many of his peers have mocked his decision to “lawyer up” instead of “squabble up,” to quote Charlamagne Tha God. Nevertheless, he will move forward with his allegations. Those eager for new Drake music instead of drama, however, will be thrilled to learn that he’s back in the studio. He posted a photo of 40 working on a new song the night before his Spotify response.

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Slim Thug Hopes That Drake Beats UMG & Spotify In Their Legal Dispute

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One of the most controversial chapters of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle actually has nothing to do with it. Instead, it’s about the latter filing a legal petition against Universal Music Group and Spotify. The 6ix God accused UMG (his label) and the streaming service of artificially boosting Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” diss track against Drizzy, and this move caused a firestorm within hip-hop culture and beyond. But some folks out there are all for it, such as Slim Thug.

“Drake suing them people? I hope the n***a win,” Slim Thug expressed during a recent Instagram Live session. “‘Cause they say, if he sue them people, them labels gon’ have to FDCA-approve that s**t, however you say that s**t, whatever it is. So they can stop them from f***ing buying up all the playlist, the major labels. He ain’t lying, though. Drake ain’t lying. Them n***as be buying that s**t up.”

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Slim Thug Speaks On Drake’s Petition

“I don’t think [that’s what the petition’s about],” Slim Thug answered when his friend asked whether Drake’s petition relates to Kendrick Lamar accusing him of inappropriate behavior with minors, and about how Drizzy’s own team probably ran numbers up artificially or benefitted from that alleged practice. “I think he’s suing Universal for running up old boy’s numbers. Yeah, I don’t know. I’m sure he know because he probably benefitted off of that s**t for so long, working with old boy. So that’s good, though, yeah, get all that s**t out the way. Let the independent n***as get back up, ’cause they got that s**t so monopolized. Yeah, I hope the n***a wins. S**t, I hope we can be independent and don’t have to deal with all of those labels buying all the playlists up. This s**t for sale. Ain’t nothing real no more. Everything is motherf***ing fake now.”

Elsewhere, Drake is also thinking about where else to get his money, as he allegedly considering buying shares in Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt that previously belonged to Dame Dash. So he’s not just placing all his bets on this petition. But as much as Slim Thug knows how good this specific move could be for the industry at large, it will still be a huge risk, not as simple of a solution as he assumes, and a massive backpedal from one of the industry’s most profitable leaders.

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Azealia Banks Thinks That Drake Could Actually Change The Music Industry For Good This Time

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Everyone went up in arms when Drake launched a legal petition against Universal Music Group and Spotify, but he’s got some people in his corner. Moreover, he accused his major label and the streaming service of collusion that sought to artificially inflate the commercial success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss track in order to damage him. Some folks disagree with the move, but others like Azealia Banks are fully behind The Boy.

“Oh drake DEFINITELY has the gun,” Azealia Banks claimed in response to a fan’s critiques. “He’s about to crook umg and spotify on some minor legal formalities and actually be the first rapper in history to stage a heist of such epic proportions. It’s really such a lethal chess move when you really examine it. He’s going to subpoena literally every platforms records, they will not be able to cook the books- and *discover* (expose) all the shady backend parts of music streaming no one really understands… then they will all have to prove that drake is a pedophile which would make UMG and spotify look r***rded if they even did, kendrick is not going to be able to perform they not like us, and jayz is going to have officially been bodied by a singing n***a…..

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Azealia Banks Defends Drake

“everyone is going to gag at how this plays out,” Azealia Banks continued concerning the Drake situation. “It’s better to watch and understand what’s happening then get emotionally involved or pick sides, we’re about to watch the girls BATTLE honey yaaass. […] Either way I’m so perched. I’m genuinely interested on how this will turn out. This s**t is 100% about to become music industry case law whichever way it goes. People all like “oh drake is soft and blah blah,” but it’s tru I y refreshing to not see a contemporary rap beef end up in violence. This is some s**t my nerdy a** can get behind.”

Meanwhile, it seems like Drake continues to clean out his circle after some surprising Instagram unfollows. It was a pretty petty move, but just like with this petition, a lot of people understand it.

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DJ Akademiks Has An Ominous Warning For Drake After UMG & Spotify Petition

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While there is no Round 2 when it comes to the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, there is certainly another chapter to the latter’s changing relationship with the music industry. Now, it’s in the form of a legal petition accusing Universal Music Group and Spotify of illegally and artificially boosting the sales numbers of “Not Like Us” through payola practices and botting. It’s obviously been an incredibly controversial move in hip-hop discourse, and also an ominously unprecedented choice that left many fans wondering what could happen next. DJ Akademiks is quite skeptical of this petition’s success, as even if it does happen, it could come at a massive cost.

During his most recent livestream, the media personality posited that Drake’s petition could change the music industry forever, as it would have to meet the standards of this hypothetically landmark case. However, he thinks that the more likely scenario is that Universal Music Group will basically make an example out of the 6ix God and hand down severe punishment. This not only applies in court, per DJ Akademiks’ assessment, but also when it comes to their treatment of Drizzy as an artist.

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DJ Akademiks Warns Drake

For example, Ak posited that Drake should release his upcoming collab album with PARTYNEXTDOOR via his independent “100 GIGS” venture rather than through Universal Music Group, as they could sabotage it. He also brought up multiple other examples of rappers and artists like Kanye West, Diddy, and 50 Cent eventually facing industry pushback for their transgressions against the machine. Of course, those are wildly different cases, but you get the idea. In fact, DJ Akademiks proposed that the only celebrities who successfully forced the machine to meet their terms were Taylor Swift and Dave Chappelle, and that everyone else became a martyr to some degree.

Finally, Akademiks spoke on how this is a particularly big move because it’s not towards just any division or executive, but rather the highest higher-ups at Universal Music Group. He thinks that this will cause an especially damaging disaster for Drake. But at the end of the day, neither DJ Akademiks nor anyone else’s knowledge and inferences can predict what will happen for sure.

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Drake Alleges “NFR Podcast” Was Paid To Cover Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”

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The “lawsuit” from Drake toward Universal Music Group and Spotify yesterday has the internet eviscerating him. People are calling this the definition of spiraling and using the “fragile opp” label against him. In fact, hip-hop fixtures such as Charlamagne tha God, Mustard, and TDE Punch even got in on the action. Similar comments are coming out in droves today as well, thanks to a particular namedrop in the legal documents. A Twitter account, King Wow, sifted through and noticed that the NFR Podcast was allegedly paid to “promote “Not Like Us” and its Video without disclosing the payment.”

It further alleges, “As part of its deal with UMG, the NFR Podcast published podcast episodes, tweets, and other content publicly about the Song. And in a sea-change for UMG’s internal policy, UMG removed the Song’s copyright restrictions on YouTube and Twitch, thereby “whitelisting” the Song (for the first time in UMG history), which further incentivized influencers to spread the Song.” As we said, the comments are just as ruthless as they were when the initial news broke. For example, one Twitter user writes, “Fragile OPPS activity.”

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The Internet Is Split On Drake’s Decision To Go After NFR Podcast

If you have never tuned into any of the NFR Podcast‘s videos or content of any kind, their page is run by Canadians Lu Guerini and Anthony D’Aliesio. For the most part, they support a lot of Drake’s music and the things he’s done throughout his career. Both are also huge fans of Kendrick Lamar’s. However, still seeing their platform in this “pre-action” petition is quite a shocking turn of events.

As it stands, though, Drake’s documents are swinging for the fences. He accuses UMG and Spotify of violating the RICO Act, as well as deceptive business practices and false advertising. Overall, he also alleges that both companies were using an “illegal” scheme to boost streams and other content surrounding “Not Like Us.” Specifically, Drake’s documents allege that UMG has been using bots, payola, and more to carry this out.

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Drake Accuses Universal Music Group and Spotify of “Pay for Play” Scheme to Boost “Not Like Us” Numbers

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Drake Accuses Universal Music Group and Spotify of Pay for Play Scheme to Boost Not Like Us Numbers

Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us” was undoubtedly one of the hottest songs of the summer….or was it? While the diss track towards Drake topped charts around the world, Drake believes that the song isn’t as big of a hit as the numbers make it out to be, accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify of conspiracy to artificially inflate the popularity of the song (and thus influence its position on the charts).

Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC filed a motion on Monday, November 25, in Manhattan court, accuding UMG of partaking in a series of illegal activities involving bots, payola and other methods to boost “Not Like Us.” The motion also accuses UMG of paying radio stations to play and promote the song.

The motion alleges deceptive business practices and false advertising under New York state law as well as violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the act targeting organized crime by prosecuting activities involving patterns of criminal enterprise. The motion is not yet a lawsuit, but rather a “pre-action” petition, which is the procedure by with information is gathered to determine if a lawsuit is warranted.

Drake’s motion also points out that this would not be the first time UMG has engaged in such practices. In 2006, UMG was forced to pay over $12 million to settle a payola case stemming from bribes made to radio stations to play their artists’ songs more than others.

Neither UMG nor Spotify have publicly commented as of Monday afternoon.

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