YG Hits Sony Over Plagiarism Allegations

By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter

The controversy over the alleged plagiarism centering K-pop idol G-Dragon's first solo single has entered a second round as his agency chief openly rebutted the copying allegations for the first time ― weeks after the suspicion surfaced.

In a long letter posted Thursday on the Web site of YG Entertainment, G-Dragon's agency, its CEO Yang Hyun-suk said the originality of his and other songs in question should be basically determined in court.

His reaction came after Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a firm specializing in music copyright management, claimed that G-Dragon's solo album title track, ``Heartbreaker,'' and three other songs on the albums of YG Entertainment's singers had ``considerable similarities to their original songs.''

Sony/ATV last week sent letters to YG Entertainment in protest of the alleged plagiarism.

Yang said he has so far kept silent about the allegations as he wanted first to see the reactions from the ``original songwriters.''

``Sony/ATV said it handed the songs to the original composers and I have made no comments so far because I have been waiting for opinions from the original songwriters,'' Yang said. ``It's questionable whether these people with Sony/ATV have some channels to communicate with the songwriters and whether the songwriters have any interest in the plagiarism allegations.''

He said he is willing to take the case to court.

``If it is taken to court at the request of the original songwriters, YG will faithfully react and is not afraid of that at all,'' Yang said.

Teddy Says `Clean'

Released on Aug.18, ``Heartbreaker,'' has drawn suspicion that it was copied from American singer Flo Rida's ``Right Round.'' Another track from G-dragon's album, ``Butterfly,'' has been accused of sounding similar to British rock band Oasis' ``She's Electric.''

``I Don't Care'' by girl group 2NE1 has also been suspected of being allegedly similar to Lionel Richie's ``Just Go.''

Yang expressed his trust in the songwriting abilities of his producers Teddy and Perry, who composed Big Bang's ``With U'' and 2NE1's hit ``I Don't Care.''

``Teddy has 10 years of experience and Perry has 15 years of experience in this field. Their image has been dealt a severe blow with these latest plagiarism allegations,'' Yang said.

Teddy (Park Hong-joon, 31) also denied the allegations in an interview Friday.

``I'm innocent,'' he was quoted as saying by the AM7 tabloid. "It's a duty for a composer to modify a song if it is similar to another song. Heaven knows that I'm clean about, 'I Don't Care.'''

In the mean time, G-Dragon, leader of Big Bang, will hold his first-ever solo concerts during the first week of December at the Gymnastics Gymnasium in the Olympic Park.

G-dragon (Kwon Ji-yong) debuted as a member of boy band Big Bang in 2006. After acquiring huge popularity with their hit song ``Lie'' in 2007, Big Bang became one of the top idol groups across Asia.

chojh@koreatimes.co.kr