Many netizens do not understand why these people are still trying to criticize BTS and Big Hit by deliberately ‘digging up’ the controversy surrounding the song ‘Butter.’
BTS has now become the most famous K-pop group in the world. The more successes they have, the more scrutiny they get. In the past, BTS and Big Hit used to be in a lot of controversial situations. Although some of them have been clarified, there are still people who want to take them down.
One of the most typical cases is of the song ‘Butter’, at one point, being caught up in suspicion of plagiarism. At that time, Big Hit Music (HYBE) confirmed that this song was not plagiarized and that the problem was only between the producers. However, some Knets have recently mentioned this incident and questioned whether or not Big Hit had threatened the producer of the other song.
Controversy over suspicion of beat similarities between ‘Butter’ and ‘You Got Me Down’
First, let’s briefly recall the case of BTS’s song ‘Butter‘ being suspected of plagiarism. Near the end of July 2021, many netizens discovered that BTS’ song ‘Butter’ has a beat that is almost 99% similar to the song ‘You Got Me Down’ by Dutch producer Luca Debonaire.
Producer Luca Debonaire himself also spoke out about this incident on Facebook. He had, had to contact Big Hit to clarify the incident. However, it turns out that ‘Butter’ did not plagiarize ‘You Got Me Down’ because the same beat was made by Sebastian Garcia. In other words, Sebastian Garcia is the original owner of the aforementioned beat topline. He sold it to producer Luca Debonaire in 2019 to later make the song ‘You Got Me Down’. However, it was Sebastian Garcia who later brought this beat into ‘Butter’.
It can be seen that this is just an issue between producers, and it remains to be seen whether ‘You Got Me Down’ buys the exclusive rights to Sebastian Garcia’s beat or not. However, Big Hit later confirmed that ‘Butter’ did not plagiarize, and said, “We are aware that there have been complaints about the copyright issue of the song. But even so, we still inform everyone that the original copyright of the song has not been changed and belongs entirely to ‘Butter’.’
Some Knets suspect that the producer of ‘You Got Me Down’ is being suppressed by Big Hit and the producer of ‘Butter’?
A recent post on a Korean online forum has rekindled this incident. The article is titled: ‘This is how Big Hit’s producer handled the suspected plagiarism case of ‘Butter’’. The owner of the post said that although neither side did anything wrong, the producer Luca Debonaire of ‘You Got Me Down’ seems to be being intimidated to the point that the official version of the song has been taken down across music platforms.
Below is the content of the article ‘This is how Big Hit’s producer solved the suspected plagiarism case of ‘Butter’’ posted by a user from the DC Gallery forum that has attracted the attention of many netizens.
‘Previously many people suspected that BTS’ ‘Butter’ (released May 21, 2021) had plagiarized the pre-release song Luca Debonaire’s ‘You Got Me Down’ (released May 23).
First, it was explained that this was a matter of buying the top-line by the producers, so it was concluded that it was not plagiarism. Luca Debonaire bought that beat from Sebastian Garcia in 2019 and composed ‘You Got Me Down’. But Sebastian Garcia later became the producer of ‘Butter’ and reused his own beat.
However, following controversy over plagiarism, Stephen Kirk, one of Butter’s producers, took down ‘You Got Me Down’ by submitting a false report on music websites claiming that the song was copyrighted (even though ‘You Got Me Down’ is the pre-released song ㅋㅋㅋ ).’
In the post, this Knet also provides proof images of the original ‘You Got Me Down’ being taken down at all official platforms, including Youtube and Spotify. In a screenshot from the Youtube video, one can see the Youtube side announcing that this song infringes the copyright of Stephen Kirk (another producer of ‘Butter’).
Feeling too unfair to producer Luca Debonaire, this netizen then messaged Luca Debonaire’s Facebook account. This person told the producer that he really liked ‘You Got Me Down’ and for some reason, this song was taken down even though it didn’t infringe copyright. After that, Luca Debonaire also expressed his anger that the ‘Butter’ producer wanted to remove ‘You Got Me Down’ because this song was released first.
Below is the content of the conversation between this Knet (temporarily called A, the owner of the post) and producer Luca Debonaire:
A: I like your song ‘You Got Me Down’. But it’s sad that Stephen Kirk (One of the producers of ‘BTS – Butter’) take down your song on YouTube and Spotify. Even though ‘You Got Me Down’ was released before ‘Butter’. Can this situation be resolved?
Luca: They are trying kill my track. I guess they want to remove any traces that prove my song was released first.
A: But your song was released first. That is an obvious fact. I don’t understand why the takedown request was approved on YouTube and Spotify. Can’t you appeal this?
Luca: Yes, but Youtube and Spotify are afraid of Big Hit Entertainment, that kind of money. I’m just a little artist.
A: It’s sad. Can I let the Korean community know about this? You are an artist who deserves more support.
Luca: Of course. Try to keep ‘You Got Me Down’ alive through this. I legally purchased the tune in 2019.
Luca: Both songs are legitimate releases but somehow they try to make my song disappear.
A: Ok, thank you. do you have any proof that they tried to delete your song? Like an email notification of a song being taken down or something.
Luca: Yes
A: Show me
Luca: (Submit message that ‘You Got Me Down’ has been removed for copyright infringement as reported by Stephen Kirk)
Luca: I need a strong community who will support me… Because what’s happening now is not fair.
A: Thanks, I have confirmed. I can’t be sure if this is something that BTS (Big Hit Entertainment) got involved in or if it’s just Stephen Kirk doing it alone. But this takedown is not fair and I hope your song gets posted again.
Many Korean netizens are amazed that many continue to try to defame BTS and Big Hit Entertainment.
This thread originated on the DC Gallery forum, but it was then re-posted on Theqoo, where it received nearly 1,000 comments. However, many Knets, opposite to predictions, sided with Big Hit and BTS for different reasons.
Firstly, they claimed that Luca Debonaire always acted as if he was the ‘victim,’ despite knowing that ‘Butter’ did not copy his song. From the beginning of the controversy, the producer knew the beats of the two songs were similar because they were written by the same composer, and he should have contacted that author.
Luca Debonaire, on the other hand, shared several status lines that could lead netizens to believe that the Big Hit’s boy group copied his music. He referred to BTS’ song as a “1:1 copy” even though both songs were legally released.
Secondly, many fans realized that Sebastian Garcia’s name was not even listed in the original credit for ‘You Got Me Down.’ They believe Luca Debonaire has removed this credit entirely, but now he calls BTS’s song a plagiarised product.
While Big Hit has stated that they did not plagiarise, others still claimed that the company had intimidated producer Luca Debonaire. Therefore, many netizens are outraged as they thought certain people had used this situation to defame BTS and Big Hit.
It is known that Stephen Kirk is the one who caused ‘You Got Me Down’ to be removed, not HYBE (Big Hit). Therefore, netizens were angry when Luca Debonaire asserted that Big Hit had ‘bought off’ Youtube and Spotify, and that he was being intimidated because he was a ‘small artist.’
As a result, many Knets have realized that there are still those who hate BTS and Big Hit so much that they are willing to go to any length to trash the group’s reputation and stir up more controversies. The fact that this post comes from the DC Gallery is a strong indication of these people’s bad intent.
