Plagiarism in Music

         The debate on plagiarism is a never- ending one. Be it films, writing or music, those who are accused of it either do it subconsciously or deliberately. Subconscious plagiarism is done by all and is not an offence. Deliberate plagiarism is an offence as every popular song, made for commercial purposes, has a copyright.

            George Harrison (of Beatles fame) was involved in a case of plagiarism in 1971. He was accused of copying a song originally sung by ‘Chiffons’, the rights of which were held by Bright Tunes Music Corp. The song ‘My Sweet Lord’ topped the charts for five weeks. Bright Tunes filed a case against George, which went on for almost ten years. George was found guilty of ‘subconscious plagiarism’ and the matter was settled for $587,000. It was found that he had not copied the song deliberately. However, there are several composers and singers who do.

Plagiarism has been prevalent in the music industry for a long time. In India, some music directors copy songs which are originally sung by somebody else. Anu Malik has been accused of plagiarism several times. Some of his songs are directly copied from English and even from those sung by Pakistani singers and bands. There are several others who do it. When confronted by reporters, music directors often say that they were inspired by a particular song. Copying is not inspiration. Can a student, who cheats in an examination, when caught, claim that he/she was inspired by a classmate?

‘Dildaara’, a recent song from the movie Ra.One is copied from Ben E King’s ‘Stand by Me’ It cannot be called copying or plagiarism as the producers had bought the rights of the song before remaking it in Hindi. This is an example of going through proper channels to re-make a song. This way, producers, singers and musicians do not have to bother about legal suits and negative comments by critics. However, such cases are rare. 

Several famous singers like Michael Bolton, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay and others have been accused of plagiarism. In India, music director Pritam and singer Baba Sehgal among several others have been accused of copying a music and re-producing it in their own style. Baba Sehgal was lucky to have escaped a legal suit. His song, ‘Thanda Thanda Pani’, from the album of the same name which was released almost twenty years ago was copied from Queen’s hit ‘Under Pressure’.

Copied songs can bring fame and money. Sometimes, plagiarism can be unintentional. But, those who do it deliberately should refrain from doing so as they are artists and art is all about being original.