Photo Credit: Getty Images
Drake has accused Universal Music Group of defamation and further propagating a narrative that he is a sex offender, something that they could have stopped. With the rising success of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not like us”, Drake and his lawyers believe that it is detrimental to his career. This is because Kendrick reveals Drake’s involvement with younger women.
According to Drake’s lawyers, Universal “executed a plan” to make the song “a viral mega-hit”, and used Lamar’s incendiary lyrics “to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues”. Drake filed papers in New York, accusing the company of illegally boosting the song’s profile on Spotify. It is alleged that UMG gave Spotify a 30% discount on licensing rates in exchange for promoting ‘Not like us’ to users searching for unrelated music. “We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns,” the company, Spotify said, denying Drake’s claims. “No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments… can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”
“Before it approved the release of the song, UMG knew that the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders and committing other criminal sexual acts,” his lawyers wrote in a statement.
“UMG could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” Drake lawyers wrote. “But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”