Drake withdraws accusation that UMG and Spotify illegally boosted Kendrick Lamar’s diss track
Drake has withdrawn the petition he raised accusing Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) of illegally boosting Kendrick Lamar‘s diss track “Not Like Us.” According to documents filed with the New York Supreme Court on Tuesday, the pre-action case is being discontinued with no financial cost to any of the parties involved.
The petition, or “pre-action case,” isn’t a full lawsuit — it refers to a stage of litigation that seeks information from each party and allows time for issues to be resolved before disputes are escalated to court.
The legal petition filed by Drake (real name: Aubrey Graham) in November alleged that Spotify and UMG — the parent label that represents both him and Lamar — used “bots,” discounted licensing rates, and pay-to-play agreements to artificially inflate the streaming numbers for Lamar’s song. The diss track, aimed at Drake, became a viral hit following a feud between the two artists last year that attracted significant attention.
A second legal petition was also filed by Drake in November that accused UMG of funneling payments to iHeartRadio to promote Lamar’s diss track. Drake’s lawyers said that the song, which describes Drake as a “certified pedophile,” a “predator,” and someone who should “be registered and placed on neighborhood watch,” was defamatory, claiming that the damage to Drake’s reputation should have prevented UMG from releasing it.
While the initial pre-action case against Spotify and UMG is now resolved, the second petition against UMG and iHeartRadio is still active. Spotify had previously filed an opposition against the first petition and hasn’t objected to Drake withdrawing the pre-action case. UMG — which hadn’t filed an opposition — has “reserved its position.”