[Edaily Starin YUN GI BACK Reporter] “SWIM,” the title track from BTS’s fifth studio album “ARIRANG,” has been embroiled in plagiarism allegations just four months after its release. The group’s agency, Big Hit Music, has categorically denied the allegations, calling them “unilateral claims,” and announced it will take legal action.

On the 9th (local time), the U.S. music publication Billboard reported that American songwriters Steve Cooper, John Sander, and Graylyn Johnson filed a copyright infringement lawsuit, alleging that BTS’s “SWIM” plagiarized a demo track of the same name they had created.
According to the report, the plaintiffs named HYBE, HYBE America, Big Hit Music, and Ryan Tether—a former member of the band OneRepublic—among the songwriters of “Swim” as defendants. However, the BTS members and RM personally were not included as defendants in the lawsuit. Although RM participated in the composition of “Swim,” the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the corporations and songwriting team involved in the production and creative process, rather than the individual artists.
The plaintiffs also raised the issue of “accessibility,” a key point in the copyright infringement case. They claimed that they had distributed demo tracks to industry insiders and publishing companies starting in March of last year, and that the tracks were also shared with some members of the “Swim” songwriting team.
Additionally, musicologist Alexander Stewart, commissioned by the plaintiffs, analyzed both songs and stated, “Significant similarities were identified in elements such as the chorus featuring the title, harmonic progressions, rhythm, texture, and lyrics,” adding, “I have concluded that ‘Swim’ is not an independent creative work but a piece created based on the original song.”
Alexander Stewart is known for having conducted musical analyses in major copyright disputes in the past, including Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”
Big Hit Music immediately denied the allegations. On the 10th, Big Hit Music issued a statement saying, “This lawsuit is nothing more than a one-sided claim by the plaintiff,” and added, “We clearly state that ‘Swim’ is a work completed through an independent creative process.” The company further stated, “We plan to clearly establish the facts through the upcoming legal proceedings and will respond firmly to any baseless claims.”