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According to music podcaster Mal, Rapper Drake will reportedly seek "upwards of $2 billion" in compensation in his lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG). The Toronto-based rapper filed a lawsuit against UMG and Spotify this week, accusing them of "artificially inflating" Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us.
On November 27, podcaster Mal took to his YouTube channel to share his thoughts on Drizzy's ongoing drama with UMG. He claimed that the rapper could seek a massive amount in damages from the company, saying:
"I think Drake is going to ask for something that no artist has ever asked or received and it's gonna be very interesting to see if he receives that. As far as compensation for damages we talking upwards of $2 billion dollars."
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On November 25, Drizzy's company, Frozen Moments LLP filed a lawsuit against UMG and the streaming platform Spotify, alleging that they indulged in "schemes" to boost the streams of Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us. The track is one of the diss tracks by K Dot aimed at the Toronto rapper during their highly publicized rap feud between March and May 2024.
Further, Drake added another lawsuit on Tuesday, November 26, claiming that the track Not Like Us falsely accused him of being a pedophile but UMG still released it. However, UMG denied all of Drizzy's allegations in a statement shared on the same day (November 25).
What are the charges Drake placed on Universal Music Group (UMG)?
On November 25, Drake's company, Frozen Moments LLP filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group and Spotify alleging that the companies indulged in "schemes" to boost the popularity of Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us.
The lawsuit, filed at the Manhattan court, alleged that UMG launched an "illegal scheme" that used payola, bots, and other dishonest means to boost the streams of Lamar's track, which included multiple jibes at Drake. Kendrick Lamar released the track on May 4, 2024, and name-dropped Drizzy in the track amid their public rap battle.
“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices. It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves," Drizzy's lawyers stated in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit further claimed that UMG violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which is used to denote organized crime. The document also alleged that the company indulged in dishonest business practices and false advertising for Lamar's track.
Further, Drizzy's lawyers claimed that UMG charged the streaming platform Spotify highly reduced licensing rates, enabling them to suggest Lamar's Not Like Us to users searching for "unrelated songs and artists." They also claimed UMG allegedly paid influencers to boost the track on social media and used bots to spike its numbers.
“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 lawsuit alleged.
The petition also alleged that UMG paid Apple to "purposely misdirect users" to Kendrick Lamar's track using their AI assistant, Siri. However, Apple is not named as a respondent in the petition.
“Online sources reported that when users asked Siri to play the album ‘Certified Lover Boy’ by [Drake], Siri instead played ‘Not Like Us,’ which contains the lyric ‘certified pedophile,’ an allegation against Drake,” the lawsuit added.
Further, the Toronto rapper's lawyers alleged that they tried to discuss the matter with UMG before filing charges. However, the company allegedly "refused to engage in negotiations" and "pointed the finger" at Kendrick Lamar instead. Further, the lawsuit accused UMG of firing employees "perceived as having loyalty to Drake" and showed “no interest in taking responsibility for its misconduct.”
The lawsuit also explained why UMG allegedly boosted Lamar's Not Like Us, claiming it had something to do with the corporal dynamics at Interscope and UMG. They added that financial incentives for officials were “largely based on the specific UMG division, rather than the performance of UMG more generally.”
“UMG’s schemes … were motivated, 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 lawsuit said.
Following Drizzy's accusations, UMG denied his allegations in a statement to Billboard, saying:
“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.”
For those uninformed, Drake has spent much of his career with UMG. He first signed with the label via Lil Wayne's Young Money, distributed by Republic Records. He then went on to sign directly with Republic Records. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar has also been associated with UMG for a while.
Lamar first signed with them through the TDE Imprint distributed by Interscope. Recently, he has become associated with Interscope as his company, pgLang, distributes through them.
