According to one entertainment industry lawyer, there’s not much “meat on the bone” with Drake’s recent filings against UMG.
’s taken the Kendrick beef from the court of public opinion to actual court. This week, Drake’s attorneys made a pair of legal filings that state their intent to find out if’s “Not Like Us” diss by paying Spotify and iHeartRadio. The filings also allege on “information and belief” that bots and other forms of payola were used to inflate streams and that Universal was complicit in “defamation” by supporting a song that accused him of being a “certified pedophile.
While the anonymous lawyer called the filings a part of Drake’s “justice play” against the industry, Casini called it more “whining than anything else.” The anonymous lawyer says these filings “could be” part of a long play to get out of his UMG contract, but Zisook and Casini are more skeptical, with the latter noting, “I don’t really understand how that would create leverage to cancel the recording contract that he has with Universal.
Casini says that he thinks the filings “look like” a precursor to a SLAPP suit, or a strategic lawsuit against public participation.” In an artistic context, he gives the example of a person filing a suit against a company for an unflattering documentary that they don’t want to be aired. In this specific instance, Drake would be fighting UMG’s participation in airing a diss song that accuses Drake of being a “certified pedophile.
All three agree that if UMG was compelled to provide documentation of artificial streaming, their reveal could blowback on Drake. “It’s likely that a lot of artists, Drake included, have benefited without their knowledge,” Zisook says. “I think a lot of artists have had label distribution partners, who have opted into above-board programs like Discovery Mode and have artificially manipulated streams, and the artist has no idea. And they don’t ask questions because it looks good.
Casini says, “I don’t really understand how Drake thinks that it’s injurious to him that the song released by Kendrick other than the fact that it’s harmful to his reputation,” citing Drake still having more monthly Spotify listeners than Kendrick. Zisook adds, “I don’t think you can make an argument that their beef hurt the consumption of back catalog whatsoever, so that was an interesting way that they framed this.
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