HOUSTON (AP) — Drake has reached a settlement with Texas-based iHeartMedia in his ongoing authorized dispute over Kendrick Lamar’s diss monitor “Not Like Us,” in keeping with court docket data.
In November, Drake filed a authorized petition in Bexar County, Texas, the place San Antonio is positioned, alleging that iHeartMedia had obtained unlawful funds from Common Music Group to spice up radio airplay for “Not Like Us.” UMG is the father or mother document label for each Drake and Lamar.
The petition, a precursor to a possible lawsuit, had sought depositions from company representatives of each firms.
In a court docket doc filed Thursday, attorneys for Drake stated the rapper and iHeartMedia had “reached an amicable resolution of the dispute” however didn’t provide some other data.
“We are pleased that the parties were able to reach a settlement satisfactory to both sides, and have no further comment on this matter,” Drake’s authorized crew stated in an announcement.
In an e mail Friday, iHeartMedia declined to touch upon the settlement.
The claims towards UMG stay energetic, and a listening to on a movement by UMG’s attorneys to dismiss the petition was scheduled to be held Wednesday in a San Antonio courtroom.
Drake has alleged UMG engaged in “irregular and inappropriate business practices” to get radio airplay for “Not Like Us.” The petition additionally alleges that UMG knew “the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders, and committing other criminal sexual acts.”
An e mail to a UMG consultant looking for remark was not instantly answered.
In January, Drake filed a defamation lawsuit in federal court docket in New York Metropolis towards UMG over what he alleges are false allegations of pedophilia made in “Not Like Us.” Lamar just isn’t named within the lawsuit.
The feud between Drake, a 38-year-old Canadian rapper and singer and five-time Grammy winner, and Lamar, a 37-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner who headlined the Tremendous Bowl halftime present on Feb. 9, is among the many largest in hip-hop in recent times.
The Federal Communications Fee despatched a letter Monday to iHeartMedia’s CEO and chairman, Robert Pittman, saying the fee is trying into whether or not the audio firm is forcing musicians to carry out at its Might nation music pageant in Austin for diminished pay in alternate for favorable airplay of their songs on iHeart radio stations.
“We sit up for demonstrating to the Fee how performing on the iHeartCountry Competition – or declining to take action – has no bearing on our stations’ airplay,” iHeart Media said in a statement. “We don’t make any overt or covert agreements about airplay with artists acting at our occasions.”
___
Observe Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70