Drake’s Lawsuit Against Spotify and UMG Heats Up: Streaming Giant Fires Back

Drake’s legal feud with Universal Music Group and Spotify just took a sharp turn, as the streaming platform hit back at the rapper’s explosive claims.

The Toronto superstar filed a petition accusing the two companies of inflating streams for Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, “Not Like Us,” alleging foul play through bots and payola. Now, Spotify is calling Drake’s accusations “false” and dismissing his court action as an attempt to sidestep normal legal procedures.

In a response filed Friday in Manhattan court via Billboard, Spotify’s legal team flatly denied any manipulation of Kendrick Lamar’s streams or collusion with UMG to sabotage Drake’s reputation. “The predicate of Petitioner’s entire request for discovery from Spotify is false,” Spotify declared, adding that they “found no evidence of bots, payola, or other artificial methods used to boost streams.” The company emphasized that such claims rely solely on “speculation” and “anonymous individuals on the Internet.”

Spotify further criticized Drake’s legal approach, accusing him of using the courts to bypass standard legal proceedings. “What petitioner is seeking to do here … is to bypass the normal pleading requirements … and obtain by way of pre-action discovery that which it would only be entitled to seek were it to survive a motion to dismiss,” Spotify’s attorneys stated, adding that this “subversion of the normal judicial process should be rejected.”

Drake has also taken his grievances to a Houston court, where he accuses UMG of defaming him by releasing “Not Like Us” with allegedly false claims. Meanwhile, Spotify has made it clear that it has stringent policies in place to combat stream manipulation, saying, “When we identify attempted stream manipulation, we take action that may include removing streaming numbers, withholding royalties, and charging penalty fees.”

As the drama unfolds, all eyes are on the next steps in this legal saga. With a hearing scheduled for later today in Houston, it remains to be seen how the court will handle Drake’s allegations and Spotify’s fiery rebuttal.