Last month, Drake filed a petition against Universal, Spotify, and iHeartRadio for artificially boosting the streams of Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss "Not Like Us" through bots, payola, and other means.
Today, Spotify responded to Drake's charge.
"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,"said the streaming giant.
UMG, which is also Drake's label, has already denied that they plotted against Drizzy.
“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.“