The rap world is buzzing over Drake announcing his intention to sue his label Univeral and Spotify over a scheme to promote Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss “Not Like Us” through bots, payola, and other illegal means.
Podcaster Rory, who used to work at a major label, broke down why this a very big deal.
Rory explained that the three major labels all own shares of Spotify — an arrangement that would be illegal in most businesses.
That means when the labels negotiate rates artists receive with Spotify, they are somewhat negotiating with themselves.
One of the big bombshells in the Drake filing is that UMG lowered their licensing rate for “Not Like Us” by 30 percent, ostensibly because both Spotify and UMG knew the track was being boted.
Rory believes that any artist should be concerned that the majors and streamers are cutting deals like this and should hope that Drake’s lawsuit clarifies what’s going on and reestablishs the worth of stream.
Adam22, another industry insider, also believes that if this goes to court, it has the potential to help other artists.
Anyone acting like Drake is just a bad loser hasn’t read this shit yet. If half of this gets proven, Drake will look like a hero for exposing the corrupt music industry https://t.co/0N796KXMhN
— adam22 (@adam22) November 26, 2024
“Anyone acting like Drake is just a bad loser hasn’t read this sh*t yet. If half of this gets proven, Drake will look like a hero for exposing the corrupt music industry,” he typed.
What do you think?