Drake drops legal case accusing labels of inflating streams of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’
Drake has dropped a legal case which accused labels of inflating the number of streams on Kendrick Lamar‘s diss track ‘Not Like Us’.
The Canadian rapper pursued the legal case last November, and alleged that Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify had “artificially inflated” the number of listens on Kendrick Lamar’s song, which accused him of paedophilia.
In the documents, Drake claimed that the companies had used methods like bots and payola to promote the song. “The record-shattering spread of ‘Not Like Us’ on streaming, sales, and radio play was deliberate and appears to have relied upon irregular and inappropriate business practices,” it read.
Now, it has been reported that the rapper’s legal team have voluntarily withdrawn the filing and ended the case.
BBC News reports that the rapper met with Spotify and Universal representatives yesterday (January 14) to discuss the case. The outlet claims that Spotify – which had filed an opposition – had no objections, and Universal, which hadn’t filed an opposition, reserved its position.
The original filing in November saw Drake not seek damages and payment, but instead request for UMG to disclose all “documents and communications sufficient to show the identities of all third parties that UMG, its agents, or anyone working on behalf of UMG/Interscope”.
Lamar’s track came as one of the most memorable moments of his feud with Drake, and saw him allege that the Canadian rapper “likes ‘em young”. Drake soon responded with a diss track ‘The Heart Part 6’ which denied the allegations.
The latter, however, failed to reach the same success as ‘Not Like Us’, which surpassed a billion streams on Spotify, broke records, topped the singles charts and became eligible for a Grammy.
In his filing last year, Drake claimed that the label licensed the song to Spotify at “drastically reduced rates” and used bots to create “the false impression that the song was more popular than it was in reality”.
At the time, Universal told BBC that the claims were “offensive and untrue”. Spotify also added that there was “no economic incentive for users to stream ‘Not Like Us’ over any of Drake’s tracks”.
Entertainment lawyer Kevin Casini also spoke to Rolling Stone around the time of the filing and suggested that the efforts would harm Drake’s reputation, adding: “I think the streaming numbers for the song will just go up again.”
In other Drake news, the rapper announced his first Australia tour in eight years, which is due to kick off on the same day as Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance on February 9.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
