alleged in a court filing Monday that Universal Music Group falsely pumped up the popularity on Spotify and other streaming services ofThe petition in a New York court by the rapper's company Frozen Moments LLC demands the preservation and divulgence of information that might be evidence in a potential lawsuit against UMG, which is the distributor for the record labels of both Drake and Lamar.
The petition also says UMG has fired employees seen as loyal to Drake"in an apparent effort to conceal its schemes." Universal Music Group said in a statement in response that 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.
Spotify representatives declined immediate comment, but in a statement on a previous case, the company said it “invests heavily in automated and manual reviews to prevent, detect, and mitigate the impact of artificial streaming on our platform,” and in broader public statements has said it has gone to great lengths to mitigate the effects ofThe two were occasional collaborators more than a decade ago, but Lamar began taking public jabs at Drake starting in 2013.
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