How often do you see the word plagiarism trending with a prominent K-pop star? Perhaps every time a new comeback releases, if not more often. These frequent accusations have adversely affected the K-pop industry and the artists by forming a question mark on the originality of the music. It also sparks severe backlash and hate comments and creates a toxic environment for fans who end up engaging in discussions leading to fan wars.
However, are the accusations factual? Has plagiarism become an inseparable part of K-pop, and there is no longer any original music? To better understand the issue, let’s dive into some of the leading cases of 2023, including IU, BTS Jungkook, SHINee Taemin, NCT DREAM, FIFTY FIFTY, and more. We will also take a look at the roots of sampling and legal aspects of the matter.
Has plagiarism become blatant in K-pop?
In 2023, many stars were accused of copying music, concepts, and more. One of the prominent cases was of IU, who was accused of plagiarising six tracks, including ‘Good Day,’ ‘The Red Shoes,’ ‘Pitiful,’ ‘Boo,’ ‘BBIBBI,’ and ‘Celebrity.’
The accuser submitted a request to investigate the matter at the police station officially, but after the initial probe, officials decided not to form a case. The allegations simply didn’t add up, and the artist didn’t create the parts that the accuser was pointing out for copyright violation.
On the other hand, BTS Jungkook was accused of plagiarising famous producer Yang Joon Young’s scale composition for ‘Time Of Mask.’ The song was originally performed by Fin K.L, which Yang accused JK of copying for his solo debut single ‘Seven.’ These allegations sparked a controversy only to be later refuted by Dispatch.
Ironically, right after this, Yang Joon Young was accused of plagiarising the same track from Spice Girls’ ‘Say You’ll Be There.’ This turn of the tables amused many netizens while the producer garnered more backlash.
FIFTY FIFTY was also accused of copying their chart-bursting song ‘Cupid’ from a piece by Evrencan Gündüz. Fans noticed the similarities in the songs’ progression and alerted the Turkish singer, who later expressed surprise over the similarity on his social media handle.
Many netizens encouraged him to take legal action against the ensemble and their agency. However, ATTRAKT refuted the claims in their official statement, sharing that they cross-checked with the original producer of ‘Cupid,’ who has shared that he doesn’t even know the famous Turkish song.
v for 'layover' album, 2023 // taemin for 'guilty' album, 2023 pic.twitter.com/NY17D5crdx
— 🍐 (@noirseas) October 18, 2023
Apart from the accusations of music plagiarism, the artists have also been accused of copying concepts. Recently, SHINee’s Taemin was accused of copying BTS V’s Layover album for the concept of his seventh mini-album Guilty. Meanwhile, NCT DREAM‘s producers were accused of copying the concept of GOING SEVENTEEN’s EGO for their reality show DREAM LOOP.
HYBE Labels’ Japanese group &TEAM were accused of copying the famous steps of SEVENTEEN‘s choreography for their second mini album ‘First Howling: WE’ with the title track ‘FIREWORK.’
Although most of these allegations were refuted and resolved, they created extensive debate among the fans and formed an image that plagiarism is blatant in K-pop. While it is easy to blame the greater involvement of social media for spreading the accusations as wildfire, these issues have deep roots.
Long-standing controversies in K-pop
Plagiarism has long been a troublesome part of K-pop, with many reputable artists, including the father of K-pop, Seo Taiji, getting accused of copying someone else’s music. One of the primary reasons is that K-pop has been influenced by the artistry of the US and Japan.
- Many artists have mentioned studying the greatest hits and artists from other countries to produce their sounds. This practice is evident among the aspirants of various art forms. Experts also agree that it is difficult to the point of impossibility to create sounds that have never been heard before.
Referencing or sampling is a well-woven part of the K-pop and other music industries. This doesn’t mean that all the artists are free to use other famous music under the title of inspiration but rather that coming across a single familiar sound, progression, or lyric isn’t equivalent to plagiarism.
- As technology develops and it becomes easy to come across various global music pieces, many believe that artists might unknowingly create a piece similar to something they have formerly heard in passing. This phenomenon is called ‘unconscious plagiarism.’
https://twitter.com/Chrissy_Strays/status/1710546585145458730?t=rdekIAO-AlBA3Uzv6kzMEA&s=19
- However, many debates exist about how much sampling and/or unconscious plagiarism is tolerable. Pop music critic Hwang Sun-up discussed this issue with The Korea Herald in 2022, stating that it is difficult to have a clear standard to separate sampling and plagiarism as music is subjective.
- Critic Kang Il-kwon emphasized the importance of having a law that can make defendants pay damages and stop artists from becoming insensitive with their creative process by excessively using samples and references.
Plagiarism vs. Sampling: Korean law for protecting music’s originality
As the music is created by mixing many elements, it is sometimes difficult to determine a quantitative measure to judge copying in music. Korean law only considers ripping off copyrighted content as a legal crime, while sampling or referencing is treated as a moral offense.
- Over the years, with cases such as Park Jin Young vs composer Kim Shin-il, which ended with a reconciliation recommendation by the court, music critics and insiders have discussed the standard to identify music’s excessive sampling as a felony. They have particularly taken US laws as an example where many judges have ruled in favor of the original creators in plagiarism suits.
i am begging kpop stans to learn the difference between sampling, interpolation, and songs simply just having similar beats
— emma 🍲 (@sooopkween) October 14, 2023
- This has also opened the gates for the artists to be respected by the audience without getting stigmatized for sampling because audiences accept that music can have a similar mood or scale composition without infringing the copyright of the original music.
At the end of the day, plagiarism depends on public opinion, especially when there isn’t a powerful law with standards for inspecting plagiarism. Due to this, K-pop artists, albeit being accused, are mainly requested to be transparent about the inspiration behind the content rather than apologize or take legal responsibility. At the same time, many receive severe backlash for sampling.
Conclusion: K-pop artists are still producing original music
After discussing some of the plagiarism allegations of 2023, looking at the roots of the controversies, and the legal aspects, we can conclude that while sampling and referencing are part of the K-pop industry, the artists aren’t blatantly copying the content of other artists.
- As the former trends, such as Y2K, Retro, or American Street, get popular among the new-gen groups, some of their photos or sounds are bound to have similar vibes with old-school music. The controversy of similarity between Taemin and V’s latest albums was also due to the creative director of Layover, Min Hee Jin, being the former creative designer of SM Entertainment.
- Additionally, some of the official remakes, such as Kai’s Rover and NCT’s Candy, are refreshingly new for the current audiences; therefore, old styles of music have a pattern of returning to popular trends after a decade or more.
In cases where there isn’t any copyright infringement involved, it is audiences who have the biggest say in deciding if the content is crossing the respectable borders of sampling and reviving past trends. So, we, as the audience, should be mindful of accusing any artist of a moral felony.
