Spotify has released an official statement denying Drake’s claims in a legal filing last month that the streaming numbers for Kendrick Lamar’s song ‘Not Like Us’ were inflated artificially on the platform.
Drake accused the streaming behemoth and his own label, Universal Music Group, of inflating the number of streams for Lamar’s song last month through his firm, Frozen Moments. ‘Not Like Us’ was of course, a scathing diss towards him. Additionally, he charged UMG with defamation.
“Spotify has no economic incentive for users to stream ‘Not Like Us” over any of Drake’s tracks. Only one of Spotify for Artists’ tools, Marquee, was purchased on behalf of the song, for €500 to promote the track in France. Marquee is a visual ad that is disclosed to users as a Sponsored Recommendation,” the company said, reports Variety.
“Contrary to the allegations in the Petition, UMG and Spotify have never had any arrangement in which UMG ‘charged Spotify licensing rates 30 percent lower than its usual licensing rates for ‘Not Like Us’ in exchange for Spotify affirmatively recommending [“Not Like Us”],’ including ‘to users who are searching for other songs and artists.”
Additionally, it highlights its substantial efforts to combat fake streaming and says it found no evidence to substantiate Drake’s petition’s allegation that an unidentified individual utilised bots to artificially inflate the song’s streams by 30 million.
UMG had previously responded to the claims, saying: “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. 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.”
