Universal Music Accuses Rival of Rampant Piracy Via Knockoff Tracks by ‘Kendrik Laamar’ and ‘Llady Gaga’

Universal Music Group sued the start-up distributor Believe for $500 million on Monday, alleging the rival firm has engaged in "rampant piracy" of its most famous artists.

In a complaint filed in federal court in New York, UMG alleged that Believe has distributed tracks by fake artists like "Kendrik Laamar," "Rihamna," and "Llady Gaga," which are simply sped-up versions of the real artists' songs.

UMG alleges that Believe's business model is predicated on pirating copyrighted works, including songs by Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Elton John, the Rolling Stones and many others.

"Believe's client list is overrun with fraudulent 'artists' and pirate record labels who rely on Believe and its distribution network to seed infringing copies of popular sound recordings throughout the digital music ecosystem," the lawsuit states. "While Believe is fully aware that its business model is fueled by rampant piracy, it has eschewed basic measures to prevent copyright violations and turned a blind eye to the fact that its music catalog was rife with copyright infringing sound recordings."

Believe is based in Paris, and was founded in 2005 by Denis Ladegaillerie, a former executive at Vivendi. The company has grown steadily in recent years, with revenues of €880.3 million in fiscal 2023.

The company has amassed a large music catalog, and has deals with platforms like Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Amazon. According to UMG's lawsuit, Believe has provided millions of tracks to those platforms — without doing any verification to make sure the tracks do not consists of copyrighted material.

As a result, according to the suit, the catalog includes a lot of "sped up" or "remixed" versions of songs by artists who are signed to UMG. The suit also accuses Believe of falsely asserting ownership of those tracks on YouTube's Content ID system, thereby making it harder for UMG's artists to assert their claim to their own songs.

"Believe is a company built on industrial-scale copyright infringement," a UMG spokesperson said in a statement. "Their illegal practices are not limited to cheating artists on major labels but artists on independent labels as well — including artists on the independent labels within the trade bodies of which Believe is itself a member. It's no wonder that Believe has been outspoken against the streaming reform principles for which so many major and independent labels have been advocating. Why? Because such reforms would undermine and expose their system of building scale and market presence by distributing music for which they have no rights and illegally collecting royalties to enrich themselves and their coconspirators."

Believe did not immediately respond to the suit.