Drake initiates legal action against UMG and Spotify for allegedly using bots, payola, and more to pump Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us, a track that attacks Drake

In a legal petition, the star's company accuses UMG of serious wrongdoing — a stunning twist months after his high-profile feud with Kendrick.

Billboard 2024-11-26 Bill Donahue

Context & Ripple Effects

The petition turns a public artist dispute into a challenge to the integrity of streaming promotion and label-platform conduct. It arrives against a documented backdrop of tactics used to inflate Spotify visibility, making the allegations commercially consequential even before they are proven.

The immediate legal escalation did not persist: Drake later withdrew the petition. That outcome limits what this episode establishes about the underlying claims, but it preserves the underlying tension around how platforms detect and account for suspicious activity.

First-order effects

UMG and Spotify face an immediate reputational and legal-response burden over allegations that they helped artificially amplify Kendrick Lamar's track; the petition itself does not establish that the conduct occurred.
Drake and Kendrick Lamar's dispute gains a platform-governance dimension, placing streaming counts and promotional methods—not only the song's lyrics—under scrutiny.

Second-order effects

Spotify's fraud-detection, reporting, and promotion controls may face closer examination from artists and rights holders, particularly where unusually rapid engagement can affect royalties and public narratives.
Labels and distributors have an added incentive to document the separation between legitimate marketing and activity that could be characterized as payola or artificial streaming.

Third-order effects

If similar disputes recur, streaming metrics may become less accepted as self-authenticating evidence of audience demand, increasing pressure for clearer audit trails and accountability across platforms, labels, and marketing intermediaries.
The later withdrawal means this case is not a legal precedent; its lasting significance depends on whether industry participants respond with more transparent anti-manipulation practices rather than treating it as an isolated feud.

The trend: This is one data point in the music industry's broader shift from treating streaming scale as a simple popularity signal to treating it as a contested, governable measure of value.

Discussion

Page Six Nicholas Hautman on x
Drake goes legal over Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us,’ accuses Universal and Spotify of ‘artificially’ boosting diss track
UPROXX Flisadam on x
UMG Has Reportedly Issued A Scathing Response To Drake's Pay-For-Play In Favor Of Kendrick Lamar Lawsuit
@desusnice Desus MF Nice on x
yo you're sick to my stomach fam
@phil_lewis_ Philip Lewis on x
“Drake has initiated legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify over allegations that the two companies conspired to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us.’” https://www.billboard.com/... [image]
@casey_evans_ Casey Evans on x
Quite funny that he's not disputing that he called him a pedophile just that he said it loudly
@_zeets Zito on x
This is the most white man reaction in a beef.
@dragonflyjonez @dragonflyjonez on x
Shit is gonna be hilarious when they conclude their investigation and find there was no number juicing. Nope the whole world danced 1 billion times to you getting your ass beat on that track. They was jamming too
@nhoodpublicist @nhoodpublicist on x
People like Drake tell on themselves. He accusing UMG and Spotify of doing that for Kendrick because it's what they do for him
@wowthatshiphop King Wow on x
Drake is alleging that UMG (the same label he's been bragging about being in a $500M deal with) is trying to take him down and were propping up Not Like Us against him with bots, and then fired the employees who were Drake fans... What in the episode of Empire? 💀
@mrmedina Alex Medina on x
bro is going out so sad. the funniest thing about this is that no artist in the history of music has gotten the most push from a label and streaming services than Drake.
@_zeets Zito on x
Your own label telling you to hold the L is wild.
@phil_lewis_ Philip Lewis on x
UMG, which distributes Drake's music, has responded: “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.” https://variety.com/... [image]
@hebennigatu Heben Nigatu on x
Truly floored that Drake is suing over streaming numbers and not because Kendrick called him a pedophile.........a choice!
@wickednfine Bella Goth on x
That lawsuit gone backfire when UMG exposes how Drake has benefited from payola, bots, massive playlisting, etc. I can't wait. Lmaoo.
@dragonflyjonez @dragonflyjonez on x
“See you in court buddy!” - somebody's GOAT. During a rap battle. Not mine tho!
@umg @umg on x
WATCH: @kendricklamar drops his newest music video for “squabble up.” ↳ https://www.youtube.com/... [image]
@variety @variety on x
Universal Music has responded to Drake's claim that it conspired to “artificially inflate” the streaming numbers of Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss, “Not Like Us”: “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the [image…
@gothamhiphop Joey on x
This you? [image]
r/law r on reddit
Drake lost a rap battle so hard he filed a RICO claim: Drake Accuses UMG & Spotify of Scheme to ‘Artificially Inflate’ Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us’
r/technology r on reddit
Drake Says UMG and Spotify Schemed to Boost Kendrick's ‘Not Like Us’
r/IsTheMicStillOn r on reddit
Drake Says UMG and Spotify Schemed to Boost Kendrick's ‘Not Like Us’
r/Fauxmoi r on reddit
Drake has initiated legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify over allegations that the two companies conspired to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar's “Not Like Us.”
r/atrioc r on reddit
Drake Accuses UMG & Spotify of Scheme to ‘Artificially Inflate’ Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us’
r/behindthebastards r on reddit
Drake Accuses UMG & Spotify of Scheme to ‘Artificially Inflate’ Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us’ (He's invoking RICO)
r/DEHH r on reddit
Drake Accuses UMG & Spotify of Scheme to ‘Artificially Inflate’ Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us’
r/popculturechat r on reddit
Drake Accuses UMG & Spotify of Scheme to ‘Artificially Inflate’ Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us’
r/entertainment r on reddit
Drake Accuses UMG & Spotify of Scheme to ‘Artificially Inflate’ Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us’
r/Music r on reddit
Drake Says UMG and Spotify Schemed to Boost Kendrick's ‘Not Like Us’
r/popheads r on reddit
Drake Accuses UMG & Spotify of Scheme to ‘Artificially Inflate’ Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us’
r/hiphopheads r on reddit
Drake Says UMG and Spotify Schemed to Boost Kendrick's ‘Not Like Us’
r/KendrickLamar r on reddit
Drake has initiated legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify over allegations that the two companies conspired to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us.’

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