BIGHIT MUSIC Immediately Refutes Plagiarism Allegations, Triggers Divided Response

Recently, BTS’s title track, “Swim,” was hit with claims that it plagiarized a demo produced by three unknown composers.

BTS Hit With Lawsuit Claiming “Swim” Was Copied From Unreleased Demo

The composers claimed that the track had significant similarities to their unreleased demo and filed a lawsuit against HYBE and its subsidiaries.

Not long after, BTS released a statement regarding the plagiarism allegations.

The lawsuit is just a unilateral claim made by the plaintiff. We would like to clearly state that Swim’ is an independent creation. We plan to take strong action in future legal processes.

— Big Hit Music

However, K-Netizens expressed divided reactions to the news.

• “Interesting how their response is so different from NewJeans.”
• “I have no interest whatsoever if it’s plagiarized because the song is so bad.”
• “Can HYBE not operate if they don’t plagiarize something? I’m really curious.”
• “Those people are just trying to find ways to rip money from them. So tired of this…our poor Tannies.”
• “What’s funny is if they did plagiarize, they should’ve filed a lawsuit as soon as the song came out. Why are they filing one now after they’ve gone on tour and the song has become a hit? Those unknown composers are so shallow…”

BTS