Korean band grant Coldplay copyright to avoid ‘great stress’
A Korean band have granted copyright to Coldplay and The Chainsmokers, a DJ production duo, after criticism that the band’s “Don’t Wanna Cry” song is too similar to a track made by the parties.
Seventeen, a South Korean boy band formed by record label Pledis Entertainment, were criticised on social media for the alleged similarities between their song and “ Something Just Like This”, a collaboration between Coldplay and The Chainsmokers.
For example, one user wrote that “all I can hear while Seventeen play is The Chainsmokers”, while others began to question the similarities.
“ Don’t Wanna Cry” has reached number 12 in the Korean Gaon download charts and the single has made over 330,000 sales.
Pledis Entertainment released a statement, according to online news website EDM Sauce, confirming it will acknowledge The Chainsmokers and Coldplay as co-writers of the song.
“We received inquiries about the similarity of some of the melodies between the songs from the two publishing parties,” the statement read.
“We are asserting that “Don’t Wanna Cry” is an independently created song but we were worried that the artists would suffer a great amount of stress if it came to legal disputes and that their image might be adversely affected regardless of the truth.
“Because of the listed reasons above, we decided to grant/acknowledge a piece of copyright to them.”
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
Today’s top stories:
Germany’s Supreme Court backs Google over thumbnail images
Media companies fight to keep Uber v Waymo case public
WIPO should tentatively engage with AI, says Gurry
US Supreme Court won’t hear Louis Vuitton or Synopsys cases
CJEU says German court has jurisdiction over French company in Nintendo case
