Spotify is facing a new class action lawsuit, with Drake at the center, as the company is accused of turning a “blind eye” to “mass-scale fraudulent streaming,” which allegedly resulted in bots streaming the Canadian rapper’s music in the “billions.”
In a new report from Rolling Stone, the outlet details the lawsuit, which lists rapper Long Beach RBX (who is a cousin of Snoop Dogg) as a plaintiff in the case, both individually and “on behalf of other members of the general public similarly situated.”
“Every month, under Spotify’s watchful eye, billions of fraudulent streams are generated from fake, illegitimate, and/or illegal methods,” the lawsuit claims, then going on to accuse Spotify of causing “massive financial harm to legitimate artists, songwriters, producers, and other rightsholders.”
The lawsuit states that Spotify has been paying out royalties through a “streamshare” model, which groups all streams collectively. The payment amounts are calculated by determining a percentage of each artist’s share of those collective streams. The lawsuit argues that fake streams would devalue payouts for smaller artists.
Interestingly, the lawsuit only names Drake specifically, even though it claims fake streams and bots are a massive issue with Spotify. The filing alleges that the company “knows or should know” a substantial amount of information that would prove Drake — who is not listed as a defendant, nor has been accused of criminal conduct — has been profiting from bot accounts streaming his music.
The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial to determine compensatory and punitive damages. The filing alleges rights holders have been defrauded out of “hundreds of millions of dollars” as a result of the alleged actions of Spotify.
It’s interesting that Drake is named in the lawsuit because he filed a similar lawsuit last year, claiming that Kendrick Lamar was benefiting from the same thing he’s alleged to benefit from here.
At this point, the timeline of Drake’s legal battle over the tune is deeply complex, but to briefly run it down: Back in November ’24, Drake began filing lawsuits over Kendrick’s song “Not Like Us,” partly claiming that Universal Music Group had inflated the song’s plays across radio and streaming.
Fast forward to January, and he withdrew his lawsuit, seemingly having settled the matter privately. Then, he refiled against the record company, with his legal team arguing that the label used the resources at its disposal to “elevate a dangerous and inflammatory message that was designed to assassinate Drake’s character.”
Drake expanded the lawsuit to include defamation in April, but the suit was ultimately dismissed last month, with the court finding the allegedly defamatory statements to be non-actionable opinion.
The main source of the issue for Drake seemed to be that, in “Not Like Us,” Kendrick labels him a “certified pedophile,” which UMG argued was a complaint that pre-dates the song, seemingly referring to the controversy that it was previously reported that Drake had a texting relationship with actress Millie Bobbie Brown while she was underage.
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