Universal Music Group Responds to Drake's Lawsuit, Calls It 'Illogical'

justjared.com:

Universal Music Group is hitting back against Drake. The 38-year-old rapper sued his record label on Wednesday (January 15) in a federal defamation case, accusing the label of spreading the “false and malicious narrative” that he’s a pedophile by releasing and promoting Kendrick Lamar‘s hit diss track, “Not Like Us.” He referred to the song as having “inflammatory and shocking allegations,” calling it a “gold mine” for UMG and claims that his label intentionally wanted to promote “Not Like Us” and devalue his own music and brand for future leverage in contract negotiations.

According to the suit, UMG also paid a third party to use bots to increase the song’s streams by at least 30 million and engaged in a “pay for play” scheme with at least one radio promoter.

Now, the label is hitting back in a statement. Keep reading to find out more… A UMG spokesperson said: “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist — let alone Drake — is illogical.

We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.” “Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists.