Importing Inspiration: Plagiarism in Pop Music

Big news in the music world: according to a judge at the Chinese Musicians Exchange Association in Taiwan, pop music’s hottest sellers are lacking in originality! More seriously, it seems that not a few musicians seek out less well-known foreign songs as material for their own albums.

Bao Xiaosong, one of the judges for the Chinese Musicians Exchange Association’s recent selection of the top ten albums of 2004, said of pop musicians like Jolin Tsai and S.H.E. that “their style is merely crowd-pleasing pointlessness, they repeat themselves too much, and they have lost their creative spirit.” Bao had previously run afoul of pop-star fandom when she told superstar A-Mei to “take a rest”; one of A-Mei’s songs, “Fire”, which was co-written with R&B artist Leehom Wang, had been the focus of plagiarism accusations and hence was not in the running for the year’s top singles.

Leehom (pictured, on right), a Rochester, NY, born Chinese-American whom you may have seen in the McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign, was also the subject of plagiarism rumors when his new album was not selected for consideration. Bao Xiaosong confirmed the whispering by pointing to two songs in particular: according to the judge, “Let Go of Your Heart” resembles “This Love” by Maroon 5, and “A Simple Song” is similar to Ken Hirai’s “Grandfather’s Clock”. Leehom, naturally, protests that his songs are entirely original creations. Sony Music, his company, questions whether there was a double standard used in the judging.

It turns out that the Japanese version of “Grandfather’s Clock” that Leehom is alleged to have copied is not an original work, either. The popular English song, familiar to many Americans, was written in 1876 by Henry C. Work, and Ken Hirai in his version reproduces both the sentiment and the “tick-tocks” of the original lyrics. He even sings in English for the B-side.

So are the songs plagiarized? The Beijing News, in an odd confluence of traditional journalism, new media, and vague copyright legislation, invites readers to decide for themselves by printing URLs for mp3s of the four songs at the bottom of its coverage of the controversy. Danwei readers, too, are granted such a luxury; check below for links.

The article goes on to quote an anonymous industry insider who says that it is relatively common for stars to send people to look for new material by combing through “notched CDs” – remaindered albums that are written off in their home countries only to find a new life of questionable legality overseas. Since few people have ever heard the songs in their original versions, they make a perfect resource for borrowing inspiration.

But theft of musical ideas is notoriously hard to prove, and at times the media storm seems to be concerned more with whether an artist is truly creative than if anyone’s rights have been infringed. “Amazing Grace” is in the public domain, yet when Joey Yung released her song “Tomorrow’s Grace”, which adapted the melody to accompany blandly inspirational Cantonese lyrics, she was accused of plagiarism. Of course, the winds of media opinion shift quickly – trumpeted recently was the selection of “Tomorrow’s Grace” to serve as school song in three Hong Kong schools.

Leehom, though he may be knocked down a few pegs in the eyes of critics, will most likely emerge relatively unscathed. Nicholas Tse, who was accused of plagiarizing Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” in a song he wrote for Cecilia Cheung, hasn’t suffered much. He admitted to having listened to the song, while denying copying it, and the case dragged on for a while before it was dropped. Fans don’t seem to care much about plagiarism; a recent television talk-show appearance by the hot young author Guo Jingming saw much of the audience supporting him. One fan was quoted as saying that even if Guo did plagiarize, he would still be a genius because he plagiarized so well. One gets the feeling that righteous denunciations by Bao Xiaosong and others belong to a completely different world.