Credit: Hip Hop Hero / YouTube Stills

Drake has reportedly dropped his legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify after accusing them of boosting Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ streams. On January 14th, the rapper’s lawyers withdrew a pre-action filing that ended the case.

Court documents filed in New York state that Drake met with Universal and Spotify to discuss the case this week. The streaming platform had no objection to the withdrawal and discontinuance following an opposition, while Universal, which hadn’t filed an opposition, maintained its position.

Drizzy took action in November, with his Frozen Moments company claiming bots, undisclosed payments, and biased recommendations were used in the alleged practice. In the filing, he accused Universal of false advertisement, deceptive business practices and violating the RICO Act.

Drake’s action focused on Kendrick’s hit single that attacked him, where he was accused of paedophilia and sexual misconduct amid their feud that occurred throughout 2024. Kendrick is signed to Universal through Interscope Records, while Drake is also signed to the corporation through Republic Records.

“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” attorneys for Drake’s company previously wrote in documents. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.” They claim the label “conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots’ to artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us‘ and deceive consumers into believing the song was more popular than it was in reality.”

Universal denied Drake’s claims in a statement to the BBC, writing, “The suggestion that [the company] 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 added that there was “no economic incentive for users to stream ‘Not Like Us’ over any of Drake’s tracks,” with the company filing an opposition brief claiming that Drake’s petition should be denied.

Despite scrapping this particular case, a related legal case filed against Universal and radio network iHeartRadio is still active in Texas.