Drake has reached an “amicable solution” with iHeartMedia and removed the company from his pre-action legal petition against Universal Music Group.
In his petition, which was filed in November, the Canadian rapper raised suspicions that UMG may have paid iHeartMedia to play Kendrick Lamar‘s diss track “Not Like Us” on its many radio stations across the country, an illegal practice known as payola.
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The filing was not a lawsuit, but instead sought depositions from representatives of both UMG and iHeartMedia for a potential future lawsuit in Bexar County, Texas.
It was filed shortly after another pre-action petition against UMG and Spotify in New York, which has since escalated into a full-fledged lawsuit against the former, which is accused of defaming and harassing Drake through the release and promotion of “Not Like Us.”
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In an amendment to his Texas petition on Wednesday (February 26), Drizzy’s legal team notified the court that he has decided to remove iHeartMedia as a respondent.
It adds that the two parties “have reached an amicable resolution of the dispute to the satisfaction of both sides.”
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It’s unclear what the resolution involved and whether Drake plans to file a second lawsuit against UMG.
Neither Drake nor iHeartMedia has yet commented on the development.
Breaking News 📣
In documents just submitted to the Bexar County District Court, Drake has dismissed iHeartMedia from the TX petition for pre-suit discovery.
The dismissal comes after they reached a resolution that satisfies BOTH SIDES.
The petition remains against UMG. pic.twitter.com/78Px2JqKUJ— The OVO Docket (@OVODocket) February 26, 2025
Another recent twist in Drake’s highly-publicized legal battle with UMG saw his lawyers reference Kendrick Lamar’s performance at the Super Bowl.
In a letter to Judge Antonio Vargas filed earlier this week, Drizzy’s attorney Michael J. Gottlieb responded to UMG’s recent claim that his side was getting ready to drop “key allegations” in their suit against the music giant.
Gottlieb hit back, saying that UMG is concerned about only a “single factual allegation” — one that, even if Drake adjusted the lawsuit to deal with the company’s concerns, would result in very minimal changes.
The back-and-forth centered around a pre-trial conference scheduled for April 2 that UMG wants to delay so that Judge Vargas can have time to consider the company’s motion to dismiss the case entirely — a motion they have to file by March 17.
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Gottlieb argued against delaying discovery in his letter to Judge Vargas, citing Kendrick’s Super Bowl performance as an example of the harm that comes with waiting.
“[D]elaying discovery would unfairly prejudice [Drake], who is continuing to suffer the consequences of UMG’s defamatory campaign,” he wrote. “Indeed, at the same time UMG has been delaying here, UMG launched new campaigns to further spread the defamatory content [‘Not Like Us’], including at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, which had over 133.5 million viewers.”
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Drake has alleged that UMG illegally boosted “Not Like Us” to harm his career and to provide the record label significant leverage when renegotiating his contract. UMG has denied any wrongdoing.
