Digital and streaming platforms Spotify has challenged Canadian rapper Drake’s lawsuit accusing them of conniving with Universal Music Group [UMG] to inflate Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like us’ streams artificially.
Spotify’s attorneys on Friday the 20th of December filed a response to Spotify filed a response to Drake’s pre-action petition, calling his claims false.
“The predicate of Petitioner’s entire request for discovery from Spotify is false: there is no such agreement. In any event, however, the Petition is legally deficient and should be denied,” the lawyers wrote.
“Petitioner offers only information-and-belief speculation rather than well-pled facts,” the filing continues. “And the Petition does not demonstrate how those speculative allegations make out the elements of the civil RICO, deceptive business practices, and false advertising claims Petitioner seeks to assert.”
A spokesperson for the streaming platform in an interview also said “Spotify has no economic incentive for users to stream ‘Not Like Us’ over any of Drake’s tracks. Only one of Spotify for Artists’ tools, Marquee, was purchased on behalf of the song, for €500 to promote the track in France. Marquee is a visual ad that is disclosed to users as a Sponsored Recommendation.”
Spotify’s response comes after Drake sued them alongside UMG, accusing them of collaborating to artificially inflate the streams of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track ‘Not Like us’. Back in November 25th, the ‘God’s Plan’ rapper filed two pre-action petitions against Spotify and UMG in Texas in the Supreme Court of New York. The New York filing claims UMG and Spotify used bots and payola to boost the numbers of K-Dot’s chart-topping Drake diss song. In doing so, Drake claims the companies violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the NY Deceptive Business Act and the NY False Advertising Act.
The Texas filing accuses UMG and iHeartRadio of a similar scheme in addition to defamation claims. The move has led to Drake being chastised by some fans on social media who presume the filing was made because Drake was salty over being bested in the rap battle with Kendrick.
Watch ‘Not Like us’ vide below
