{"id":220667,"date":"2025-01-15T18:10:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=220667"},"modified":"2025-01-15T19:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T19:02:10","slug":"now-drake-launches-full-blown-defamation-lawsuit-against-universal-music-group-read-the-filing-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/now-drake-launches-full-blown-defamation-lawsuit-against-universal-music-group-read-the-filing-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Now Drake launches full-blown defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group \u2013 read the filing here"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier today we reported that Drake had withdrawn<\/a> a legal petition against Universal Music Group\u00a0and\u00a0Spotify, accusing the companies of a scheme to \u201cartificially inflate\u201d Kendrick Lamar\u2019s diss track, Not Like Us.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, according to a legal document filed by Drake today (January 15), and obtained by MBW, the artist has launched a full-blown defamation lawsuit<\/strong> against Universal Music Group.<\/p>\n

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Within the lawsuit, Drake accuses UMG of promoting a “false and malicious narrative” about Drake via the content of the lyrics, single artwork and music video for Not Like Us<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He also claims that the release and promotion of the recording has resulted in “physical threat to Drake’s safety” as well as “the bombardment of online harassment” and as such, “fears for the safety and security of himself, his family and his friends”.<\/p>\n

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According to the complaint, filed in a New York court today, “this lawsuit is not about the artist who created Not Like Us.<\/em> It is instead entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false but dangerous”.<\/p>\n

You can read the filing in full here.<\/a><\/p>\n

A statement issued by Drake’s legal team at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP<\/strong> reads: “Drake filed a lawsuit against his label, Universal Music Group, to hold UMG accountable for knowingly promoting false and defamatory allegations against him.<\/p>\n

“Beginning on May 4, 2024 and every day since, UMG has used its massive resources as the world\u2019s most powerful music company to elevate a dangerous and inflammatory message that was designed to assassinate Drake\u2019s character, and led to actual violence at Drake\u2019s doorstep.<\/p>\n

“UMG wants the public to believe that this is a fight between rappers, but this lawsuit is not brought against Kendrick Lamar. This lawsuit reveals the human and business consequences to UMG\u2019s elevation of profits over the safety and well-being of its artists, and shines a light on the manipulation of artists and the public for corporate gain.”<\/p>\n

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The original petition, filed<\/a> in November 2024 but withdrawn this week, and which you can read in full here,<\/a>\u00a0alleged that UMG \u201claunched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song,\u00a0Not Like Us<\/em>, in order to make that song go viral, including by using \u2018bots\u2019 and pay-to-play agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition also claimed that \u201cUMG charged Spotify licensing rates 30 percent lower than its usual licensing rates for\u00a0Not Like Us<\/em>\u00a0in exchange for Spotify affirmatively recommending the Song to users who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

It continued to allege: \u201cUMG nor Spotify disclosed that Spotify had received compensation of any kind in exchange for recommending the Song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, in response to Drake\u2019s allegations about a 30% lower rate in exchange for recommendations, a Spotify spokesperson told MBW: \u201cSpotify has no economic incentive for users to stream Not Like Us<\/em>\u00a0over any of Drake\u2019s tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for UMG told MBW <\/i>in November: \u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

MBW has reached out to UMG for a response to the latest legal filing.<\/p>\n

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Both Drake and Lamar release their records via UMG and its\u00a0Republic Records<\/a>\u00a0and Interscope, respectively.<\/p>\n

Not Like Us\u00a0(Interscope),\u00a0recorded by Lamar was released<\/a> as part of a\u00a0bitter rap feud with Drake on May 4, as part of a series of three diss tracks, all released within a few days of each other (the other tracks are\u00a0Euphoria\u00a0and\u00a0Meet The Grahams).<\/p>\n

The track reached No.1 on the Hot 100, marking Lamar\u2019s fourth-ever US No.1, and his second that year, following\u00a0Like That<\/i>\u00a0by\u00a0Future<\/b>,\u00a0Metro Boomin<\/b>\u00a0& Kendrick Lamar, which hit No.1 in April. The track also\u00a0marked the first<\/a>\u00a0US No.1 for\u00a0Not Like Us\u00a0<\/i>producer\u00a0Mustard<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawsuit follows Drake’s withdrawal of a previous legal petition against UMG\u00a0and\u00a0Spotify<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":152430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2167,1161],"class_list":["post-220667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-drake","tag-kendrick-lamar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}