Big Hit Music denies copyright infringement claims over BTS song Swim
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BTS members are not named in the lawsuit, nor are RM and producer Pdogg, both of whom participated in writing the track.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Big Hit Music denied allegations that BTS' song Swim copied a US demo, calling the claims "unilateral and unsubstantiated" and pledging a firm legal response.
- US songwriters Steve Cooper, Jon Sandler, and Greylyn Johnson filed a lawsuit claiming Swim copied their demo, supported by a musicologist's report on song similarities.
- The plaintiffs seek to stop Swim's use, claim damages, and ask to be credited as co-writers with rights to royalties; BTS members are not named in the suit.
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SEOUL – Big Hit Music, Hybe’s music subsidiary and BTS’ agency, on July 10 denied allegations that the group’s global hit Swim infringed on the copyright of a song by three US songwriters.
“Swim is an independent creation,” the agency said in a statement shared with The Korea Herald. “The allegations in the lawsuit are unilateral and unsubstantiated. We will respond firmly through the appropriate legal process.”
The statement came after US songwriters Steve Cooper, Jon Sandler and Greylyn Johnson filed a copyright infringement lawsuit on July 8 in the US District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that BTS’ Swim copied substantial elements of a demo song of the same title.
Swim was released as the main single from BTS’ latest album Arirang.
A US media outlet reported on July 9 that the complaint names Hybe, Hybe America, Big Hit Music and several of the song’s co-writers, including Derrick Milano, James Essien and Ryan Tedder, as defendants.
BTS members are not named in the lawsuit, nor are RM and producer Pdogg, both of whom participated in writing the track.
According to the complaint, the three songwriters began working on their version of Swim in early 2025 and completed a demo in March that year.
The plaintiffs allege the recording was shared with multiple music industry contacts, including executives at Artist Publishing Group through the music-sharing platform Disco, and argue that it may have ultimately reached the songwriters behind BTS’ Swim.
The plaintiffs also commissioned musicologist Alexander Stewart to compare the two songs. According to the complaint, Stewart identified similarities in elements of the title hook, harmony, texture, rhythm and lyrics, concluding that BTS’ Swim was not an original composition.
The three US songwriters are seeking an injunction barring further exploitation of Swim, as well as damages and disgorgement of profits.
Alternatively, they are asking the court to recognise them as co-writers of the song and award them a share of its copyright royalties. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK