Is Universal Music Group responsible for Drake “losing” rap feud to Kendrick Lamar?

Even when we are dealing with some of the biggest rappers in the world, who seem be doing just alright financially, huge feuds over money, streams and chart placements happen regularly.

(Photo: GQ)

According to Drake’s company, Frozen Moments LLC, UMG and Spotify should allegedly have helped boost Kendrick Lamar’s track Not Like Us during the time the two artists were feuding. Important to mention is that both Drake and Kendrick currently are signed to UMG. Drake’s lawyers went on to accuse UMG of making a scheme to “artificially inflate” Kendrick’s track, and should allegedly have charged Spotify licensing rates 30 percent lower than its usual licensing rates for Not Like Us, in exchange for Spotify recommending the song to users, who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists. This way the track would gain much more exposure than any track Drake would ever put out, and therefore have a clear advantage of flying straight to No. 1 on the charts. Something it did in a heartbeat. Not only did it hit No. 1 on the Hot 100, it also got nominated for 5 Grammys and have a whooping total of 916 million streams on Spotify alone.

Drake’s lawyers continue with claims that UMG formerly paid Apple to have Siri “purposely misdirect users” to the Drake diss track. According to a Vibe article, Not Like Us would play when Siri was asked to play Certified Lover Boy. Another big claim coming from team Drake is that UMG employees associated with Drake, or employees “perceived as having loyalty to Drake” would get fired. Following these many claims of unethical behaviour, a spokesperson for UMG decided to make a statement regarding the case: “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.

Ending off with a subtle, yet powerful hint towards Drake and his attorneys, saying the best music always wins in the end: “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.”

The claims from Drake's lawyers are all based on "information and belief” and have yet to be proven factual.

Sources: www.musicbusinessworldwide.com, www.rollingstone.com