#68: Plagiarism continued, Netizens are extreme

Read the following news

Plagiarism has again emerged as a hot issue in the Korean music scene after star composer Kim Do-hun was accused of plagiarizing a song by an indie band.
Netizens accuse Kim of having copied parts of the song “Blue Bird” by indie band Ynot for his song “I’m a loner,” which he composed for the indie band CNBLUE. To support their claims, they have uploaded text and clips of the two songs to the Web.

Meanwhile, a group of netizens has started gathering signatures for an online petition urging Kim to leave the music industry because, they say, he has built his career with plagiarized songs.

“Kim wrote a song titled ‘Lie’ for Gavy NJ and it was pretty much the same as Jennifer Lopez’s ‘Brave,’” a person with the screen name Rasmus wrote on the site Agora, a major online debate forum operated by local search engine Daum. “There were also similarities between Kim’s ‘8282’ [sung by Davichi] and Mika’s ‘Happy Ending.’ The list goes on.”

Rasmus launched the signature campaign against Kim. As of yesterday morning, 3,181 netizens had signed on.

Another of Kim’s songs, “Can’t Forget” sung by Kim Jong-kook, is said to have an introduction that is similar to that of Usher’s “Love in This Club.”

Kim refuted the allegations in a statement issued earlier this week.

“There are so many similar songs because they all belong to the same genre,” the statement said.

Kim began his career in 1995 and since then has composed songs for many of the nation’s A-list singers, including Lee Hyo-ri, Lee Seung-ki, SES, SG Wannabe, Big Mama and Fly to the Sky.

In his statement, Kim also implored netizens to stop making assumptions about his work.

credits: JoongAng Daily

Previously, crazy netizens have already caused many uproars in the Korean Pop industry, the most famous one being JAEBEOM leaving 2PM. There were also many cases where they even had petitions to wish some celebrities dead, Jaebeom included.

Now, they are trying to drive yet another contributive musician to the corner. Plagiarism is an issue between the composers and the companies; what audience receives are 2 versions of a nice piece of music and it doesn't concern us directly that the songs are similar. So even if some of us are strongly against plagiarism, or what it seems like to me, ACTING like we are so against it, it still doesn't affect us even a microbit.

SO, crazy netizens should just stop it. It's none of their business. Creating more sadness rather than creating more happiness. Sadistic, i would say.

---------------------------------

This is what Kim has to say about the allegations again.

The songwriter of the hit song by four-member group CNBLUE, has denied the allegations that he copied the indie band Ynot's song "Blue Bird".

"I have not deceived my conscience," said composer Kim Do-hoon in an interview with the Hankook Ilbo. "I have never heard of the song `Blue Bird.' I did not plagiarize it."

He said Ynot sent him a letter to claim that CNBLUE's "I'm a Loner" is similar to its song in melody and rhythm ― a usual step needed before filing a suit.

Yet, Kim denied the accusations, saying the two songs are different in rhythm and melodies as a whole.

"Those who know music will be able to easily figure out that the two songs are in the same genre but are completely different," he said.

He said the plagiarism accusation is not based on logical evidence.

"The fame I have built over the last 15 years collapsed in a moment. The singers are damaged but the biggest victim is the songwriter,"Kim said.

He said a professional copyrights institute needs to be established to determine the truth of plagiarism allegations.

"I hope there will be countermeasures to make sure there will be no victims like me going forward."

Kim said he does not understand why Ynot has not yet filed a suit.

The noise surrounding the plagiarism accusation is getting louder as it pits the supporters of indie bands against those backing the rising band and established music groups.

Some Internet users are holding an online campaign to boycott the composer, claiming that it is not the first time that he has been involved in plagiarism disputes.

Thousands of netizens have signed the online campaign to evict Kim from the music scene at portal Daum's Agora Web site.

Rocker Shin Hae-chul has added fuel to the disputes by posting comments that slam CNBLUE for alleged plagiarism. "If the song ("I'm a Loner'') is not plagiarism, plagiarism will disappear in the world,'' Shin said.

CNBLUE, which is sweeping music charts with its debut song, is comprised of guitarist and lead singer Jung Yong-hwa, guitarist and vocalist Lee Jong-hyun, drummer Kang Min-hyuk and bass guitarist Lee Jung-shin.

credits: The Korea Times, CrystalHeng @ CNBlueSGFC


You know what, just, whatever~ This issue is getting out of hands.


author: jovena

#53: Response from the Composer regarding I'm A Loner (not) plagiarism issue

All the affairs(post #8 , #9 , #33 , #49) started from the netizens and being a netizen ourselves, we can't help but take sides. Initially, i was rather crossed with the composer because it has been portrayed that the fault lies with the composer and not anyone else.
But, after listening to what he has got to say, i sympathise with him and i believe that this entire plagiarism issue was just a fake, and a reverse-marketing strategy.

Certain netizens are just green with jealous when some talented bands or groups debut, especially instant high profile one like C.N.BLUE, so these people have got nothing better to do but to stir up problems.

Read the following account by the composer of I'm a Loner, Kim Do Hoon:

“I want to say to all of the music fans and industry professionals that I’m very regretful and sorry to cause everyone such an inconvenience. I was trying to hold back my words, but I couldn’t resist with this crisis. I want everyone to know that the reason I didn’t speak out on these allegations are not because I had nothing to say, or because I was agreeing to the allegations.”

“I debuted in 1995 and in 1998 through Jang Hye Jin’s song “To Eternity (영원으로),” I was able to obtain my first title. Since that for over 10 years I have composed about 300 songs. And out of those songs, about 90 of them were either title songs or follow up songs. Recently, when I read the articles about me, the majority of them are claiming that I made it this far as a plagiarizer. Throughout these 10 plus years, my stance on music has never changed. I have many tracks where there have been no plagiarism allegations. The point I want to make first, is that I didn’t make it this far as a plagiarizer.”

“The plagiarism controversies right now all started from netizen made videos. Right now it’s a trend for people to find similar songs and point it out. Even if it’s not my songs, there are so many videos being created that songs are similar, and out of those videos, there are songs that may be real issues as well as ones that are just the opinions of an individual. But out of those songs, the ones that become a successful song are the only ones that become news articles. It’s the opinion of one person and their video that starts an issue and it becomes a news article, which turns into a plagiarism controversy. Furthermore, the reports make it seem as if the song was deemed plagiarized and that the composer is guilty.”

“The song that has been in the news lately, ‘I’m a loner (외톨이야),’ has only one word that is similar. And the news reports that claimed the chords were the same were inaccurate, nor was the intro the same. Even the chorus melody where it goes, ‘Wae Tol Ee Ya Wae Tol Ee Ya (외톨이야 외톨이야),’ is not similar at all. Only the part where it goes, ‘Dari Diri Daram Do’ is similar, but that melody is also in Country Kko Kko’s ‘Oh Gani’ and Park Sang Min’s ‘Mediterranean Sea (지중해)’. In addition, that melody is also in a song I composed for Ha Dong Kyoon, called ‘Far Far (멀리멀리)’.”

“In Davichi’s ‘8282′ there’s only a similarity in the very beginning of the song, everything after that is totally different. In Kim Jong Kook’s ‘Can’t forget’, there are no similarities in the song, only a slight similarity in the intro. If my words do not make sense, please listen to the tracks again and make a better informed decision. There are so many songs that have a similar word/portion. Even many famous American songs have songs that have the same word or similar sounding portions. If I wanted to kill myself trying to find similar songs, I would be able to find even more songs that are a lot more similar than what the netizens are uploading.”

“Beyond the current controversy surrounding ‘I’m a loner’, there have been many reports that other tracks made by me were similar and plagiarized. Moving forward, if people keep saying songs are plagiarized so easily and uploading videos of small parts that sound similar, it’s not just me but all of the other composers who will not be able to compose freely. Right now there are so many cases of plagiarism that are stirred up by netizens. These issues should be analyzed by a professional and a plagiarism case should only be determined by them. But trying to create and stir an issue using the internet without solid evidence to destroy a composer, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do.”

“I really hope there won’t be anymore cases where composers are cornered into a wall, just because some people think a song is similar sounding. Finally, to all the music fans who have showed interest and love in my songs and to the industry professionals, to all of you, again, I am sorry to have worried and inconvenienced you.”

That was rather long, but it was convincing.

I guess there was really no intentions of plagiarism so everyone should just let the matter rest.


author: jovena
credits: allkpop

#49: More progressions with I'm A Loner (not) plagiarism issue

It has been some time before we heard any news on it, a big relief for fans, because at least no news means no bad news.

Just yesterday, 5th Feb, there has been some information from FNC side.

“We are worried regarding the widespeard of this plagiarism suspicion controversy. We have been quite until now to gather information, make internal decisions, and prepare for legal actions.”

“First, we want to ask everyone not to use the term ‘plagiarism’ until it is proven in the court that there is plagiarism involved. We believe this problem is only limited to the creators/writers of two songs, which C.N.BLUE had no involvement. But it feels like the media is fabricating the problem as if the problem has direct association with C.N.BLUE. Currently, creators of the song I’m a Loner are in the process of legal actions on this.”

“We are in the process of preparing for legal actions on this matter also. We had met with creators of YNot’s Blue Bird and told them that we will file for legal actions against them when their song is not found as plagiarized. Also, there could have been misunderstanding in what our president had stated regarding indie bands. We have utmost respect for indie bands and if we have caused any misunderstanding, we would like to apoligize.”

“We hope the media play should stop. We tried our best to develop people with utmost talent and love for music. We would like to apologize for any misunderstandings that we have caused.”

Hopefully, light will shine on C.N.BLUE and I'm A Loner soon and all tides will reside for this entire issue.

At the same time, there are gossips on the net saying that, Bluetory (the name of their mini album), is actually "Blue Bird" (the song by Ynot that is involved in this issue).

According to the netizens, "tory" actually means "bird" in Japanese so that explains their guess.

FNC Music replied that the album title ‘Bluetory’ was purely made up by the president of the company and does not have any other meaning.

"Blue" represents C.N.BLUE and "tory" is a Korean word which stands for the “music specialty that each area has” and so, "Bluetory" in general means that "C.N.Blue will be showing their own color in the music industry.”

Even though the gossip does make sense and it is strangely coincidental, i hardly think that there is any connections between the two bands and the two songs.

So whatever it is, netizens should stop creating problems out of nothing.
The entire plagiarism issue was started out by them, anyway.


author: jovena
credits: Kbites, cnbluemoonlight @ CodeAzzurro

#33: Im A Loner Plagiarism, bad progress

After an entire good week for C.N.BLUE, winning awards on Musicbank and Inkigayo, bad news arrived yet again for them.

When we thought that the plagiarism issue has died down, Ynot seems to be upset with the success of I'm a Loner and chose this timing to announce officially that they will take legal action against I’m a Loner’s composer & songwriter Kim Do Hoon and Lee Sang Ho.


The vocal of Ynot and the songwriter of Blue Bird gave a press statement today, 1st Feb:

We shared our thoughts about this situation, yet the composer, songwriter
and company representative have not made an excuse or shared a statement. We
have received advice from an entertainment business lawyer and will seek help to
take legal action.

A FNC Music (CNBLUE’s company) representative claimed
that we were noise marketing to raise our own popularity. We think that, from
the plagiarism allegations, FNC Music is the one noise marketing to up their
popularity instead.

It seems like FNC Music is waiting it out and
expecting this controversy to settle down. … They aren’t giving Ynot respect and
haven’t cared to take action because Ynot is an indie band.

On February
1st, Ynot’s company asked FNC Music to apologize for the insulting statements
they made, and asked the songwriters to make an official statement toward the
similarities between the songs.

This controversy is ultimately between
me (Ju Mong), the songwriter of Blue Bird, and Kim Do Hoon and Lee Sang Ho, the
composer and songwriter of I’m a Loner, and shouldn’t involve Ynot and CNBLUE.

I can see Ynot is trying hard not to pull the talented new group, C.N.BLUE, into this mess all this while. However, taking official legal charges against the song would mean affecting the group badly already.

I really hope this issue will be settled appropriately by FNC, and even if apologies are needed, i hope they will humble down and offer their sincere apologies and make sensible and mature statements about the issue.

There could be really coincidences, or very obvious similarities between songs all the time, so whether this plagiarism issue is just a marketing strategy, or a really blunt mistake, we should all give C.N.BLUE our utmost support and show love for their other original songs.

HWAITING, C.N.BLUE!

author: jovena
credits: allkpop.com

#9: Updates on I'm a Loner plagiarism

Recently, we've posted about the suspicion of plagiarism for the track "I'm a Loner" by C.N.Blue (refer to post #8) and FNC Music's response to this accusation.

Just not long ago, YNot has also gave their account on this.

“The plagiarism issues are the fault of the composers, Kim Do Hoon and Lee Sang Ho. We hope CNBLUE does not get scarred from this issue. This issue is between us (Ynot) and the composers of ‘I’m a loner’, in no way is it an issue between us and CNBLUE.”

“We expect and look forward to a long career from CNBLUE, who is talented and has the ability to play instruments, compose and write songs. We hope this incident does not hinder their activities and we hope it does not scar them at all.”

However, they also expressed their firm stand regarding the plagiarism incident.

“If the issues are not settled rationally and appropriately, we are considering taking the proper legal actions.”

Their response towards FNC Music's statement about Ynot just wanted “noise marketing” and that “if they (FNC Music) were going to plagiarize, they would’ve chosen a better foreign song,” :

“We have been doing this for 13 years, putting on performances and standing by our name Ynot. It is greatly insulting to not only us, but the entire indie scene for them to state such things. I am now concerned for our band’s (Ynot) honor and reputation because of the statements from FNC Music.”

In my opinion, Ynot has definitely given a more tactful statement as compared to FNC, and i feel regretful that C.N.BLUE's company didnt do a good job to address the issue and they seemed to be too nervous about the incident.

Since it's seems to be the fault of the composers, and also FNC's fault to not verify the originality of the song, we should really pray hard for our idol band, and hope that Ynot would not pursue this matter any further.

It's the evil netizens at work again, digging such matters up, creating problems and unhappiness.

HWAITING, C.N.BLUE!!


-author: jovena
-credits: allkpop.com

#8 : C.N.Blue's "i'm a loner" accused of plagiarism?

In all fans' knowledge, our C.N. Blue has gained a great amount of popularity in the past week of debut! Their song "I'm a Loner" topped #1 on all the music charts, but now the hit track is under suspicion for plagiarism.

Despite making a surprisingly strong debut which brought their fame up by heights and beating out other fellow rookie competitors, it has been been said that “I'm a Loner” sounds alot like another song "Blue Bird" by Ynot.

In my opinion it definitely does sound similar in some parts.and the way both bands interpret the songs. But is it really enough to consider our boys of plagiarism?

On 22nd Jan 2010 (Fri), Newsen called C.N.BLUE’s agency and the company expressed their disappointment:

“It’s unfair. Currently we are clearing things up on our end. We will release a statement sometime today.”

Ynot’s camp also released a statement regarding this situation:

“After listening to the song (C.N.BLUE’s I’m a loner), it definitely sounds
similar. This chord and melody, in my opinion, is hard to declare that it
was just a mere coincidence.”

Then, FNC Music provided an official response:

“Unbelievable. They are barely similar. The only similarities are the chords in the introduction and the style of music. If ‘I’m a loner’ has a similarity controversy for these reasons, then all the music on this planet will never be free from such controversy.”

“Due to this incident, this is the first time we have ever heard about the group Ynot, in addition to their song ‘Blue bird’.

“Plagiarism can only be determined by the courts ruling. There hasn’t even been a court ruling but the media is already throwing around such
hot words. We plan to take appropriate measures against these outlets.

“Ynot claimed in an interview that they didn’t want ‘noise marketing’,
however, if that was really the case, they would’ve approached the composer or producer first. If their true motives were to raise their awareness by riding on the coattails of C.N.BLUE’s rising popularity and fame, they will have to take responsibility for their actions.”

FNC Music is extremely concerned about C.N.Blue’s reputation and image due to these plagiarism allegations as they have only just started out.

As fans, lets hope for the best for C.N.Blue and we should continue to believe that their talent and hardwork will prove this allegation wrong.






-author: Bella.ann[^-*]
-Credits: allkpop