Drake’s Firm Accuses UMG of Falsifying Success of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’

Drake‘s firm has filed a petition in opposition to Common Music Group for allegedly falsifying the success of Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us” diss observe.

Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC filed the petition in a Manhattan court docket on Monday, Nov. 25, per paperwork obtained by PEOPLE.

Within the 17-page submitting, Drake’s attorneys state that UMG launched the track on Might 4, 2024, through its subsidiary Interscope, the place Lamar, 37, is an artist.

They allege the document label “launched a marketing campaign to govern and saturate the streaming providers and airwaves” with “Not Like Us” “to make that track go viral, together with by utilizing “bots” and pay-to-play agreements.”

The attorneys allege that UMG gave Spotify, which can also be named as a respondent within the petition, a 30% low cost on licensing charges in trade for the music streaming platform recommending “Not Like Us” to listeners trying to find “unrelated” songs and artists, in response to the submitting.

The submitting references a podcaster who alleged that Interscope paid them $2,500 via third events “to make use of ‘bots'” to assist Lamar’s track attain 30 million streams on Spotify simply days after its launch. The platform later celebrated Lamar’s single reaching a record-breaking 300 million streams within the first 35 days, per the petition.

Drake’s firm additionally alleges “no less than one UMG worker” paid radio stations to play “Not Like Us” with out disclosing that they obtained compensation. The attorneys level out that the alleged conduct is called “payola” and is “prohibited by the Communications Act of 1934.”

“UMG’s schemes to artificially inflate the recognition of ‘Not Like Us’ have been motivated, no less than partially, by the need of executives at Interscope to maximise their very own earnings,” the court docket docs allege.

The attorneys added that Frozen Moments has been knowledgeable that UMG is allegedly “taking steps in an obvious effort to hide its schemes” comparable to firing workers who present loyalty to Drake.

Per the submitting, Drake has tried to talk with UMG about “the continued hurt he has suffered because of UMG’s actions,” nevertheless, the corporate allegedly “refused to interact in negotiations” and stated Drake ought to take his points to Lamar as a substitute.

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UMG’s alleged determination to saturate the market with “Not Like Us” “comes on the expense of different artists” comparable to Drake, the court docket papers proceed.

Within the petition, Frozen Moments is requesting “pre-action discovery” to assist the corporate “establish” the “applicable” events to call as defendants in an official criticism.

Though the corporate says it has “viable explanation for motion for civil RICO” in opposition to UMG with claims like wire fraud, mail fraud, bribery, misleading enterprise practices and false promoting, it provides that it wants extra info from UMG and Spotify earlier than a lawsuit might be filed.

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UMG tells PEOPLE in an announcement, “The suggestion that UMG would do something to undermine any of its artists is offensive and unfaithful. We make use of the very best moral practices in our advertising and promotional campaigns. No quantity of contrived and absurd authorized arguments on this pre-action submission can masks the truth that followers select the music they wish to hear.”

“Not Like Us” now has 900 million Spotify streams, making it essentially the most streamed diss observe within the platform’s historical past, in response to the petition. It additionally achieved a record-breaking 96 million streams in a seven-day interval.

Spotify didn’t instantly reply to PEOPLE’s request for remark.