Universal Music Group CEO & chairman Sir Lucian Grainge has responded to the latest legal claim by Drake against the major.
The Canadian star initially sued the major (his own label) over Kendrick Lamarr’s diss track Not Like Us. In legal papers filed in New York state’s Supreme Court in November, Drake’s company, Frozen Moments, accused the major of artificially boosting streams of Not Like Us, released via UMG’s Interscope.
According to the legal claim, UMG “launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves”.
The legal dispute escalated earlier this year when Drake filed a defamation lawsuit against UMG in relation to the song’s release. At the time, the major described the claims as “untrue” and “illogical’’.
In the latest development, Sir Lucian Grainge has weighed in on the dispute.
In a declaration letter filed in the Southern District of New York and obtained by Music Week, Sir Lucian dismisses the claims of defamation – and suggestions he was involved in the planning and release of the track – as “farcical” and “nonsense”.
Earlier this week, Drake’s lawyers attempted a discovery bid to compel UMG and Sir Lucian to turn over the label’s contract with Lamar alongside other information. The attempt to add Sir Lucian as a document custodian in the case apparently prompted the CEO to make his legal intervention.
In the declaration letter, Sir Lucian states that the allegation that he was involved in attempting to “devalue” Drake’s brand “makes no sense due to the fact that the company that I run, Universal Music Group NV, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Drake, including longstanding and critical financial support for his recording career, the purchase and ownership of the bulk of his recording catalogue, and the purchase of his music publishing rights”.
Sir Lucian added that any suggestion the head of a multi-billion dollar, multi-national public company would be involved in the release and promotion of an individual song was “farcial”.
He confirmed in the declaration that he had not heard the track or seen the video or cover art for Not Like Us until after its release. Kendrick Lamar’s single peaked at No.1 in the UK and US.
“Whilst, as part of my role, I certainly have financial oversight of and responsibility for UMG’s global businesses, the proposition that I was involved in, much less responsible for, reviewing and approving the content of Not Like Us, its cover art or music video, or for determining or directing the promotion of those materials, is groundless and indeed ridiculous,” concluded Sir Lucian in the letter.
In separate submissions to the court, UMG’s lawyers sought to have the motion to make the CEO & chairman a document custodian dismissed, arguing that the “attempts to show Sir Lucian’s relevance are so strained that they defy credulity”.
“Drake’s motion is a transparent attempt to use discovery to harass UMG and force it to waste time and resources out of spite,” stated the legal letter. “The premise of Drake’s motion – that he could not have lost a rap battle unless it was the product of some imagined secret conspiracy going to the top of UMG’s corporate structure – is absurd.”
For more stories like this, and to keep up to date with all our market leading news, features and analysis, sign up to receive our daily Morning Briefing newsletter