BTS SWIM Faces Plagiarism - All That US Copyright Lawsuit Claims, Similarities With Demo Track, HYBE's Reaction

BTS'

global hit SWIM might be breaking records, but it has also become the subject of a copyright dispute after three American songwriters filed a lawsuit in the United States, alleging that the chart-topping single copied significant elements from an earlier demo track they created. The title track of the K-pop band's comeback album ARIRANG recently won the Summer Song of the Year award at the American Music Awards, and now this claim is only bringing down its shine across the global rankings. Its music video, featuring the septet - RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, has over 140 million views on YouTube.

Lawsuit filed against BTS track SWIM

The lawsuit claims that BTS song SWIM, the lead single from the group's fifth studio album, is too similar to an unpublished demo of the same name, written by composers Steve Cooper, Jon Sandler and Greylyn Johnson. The plaintiffs contend that the similarities are too great to be coincidental and amount to copyright infringement.

The news was reported by Billboard this week. SWIM, which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 this spring, has many "substantial similarities" to their own song of the same name, the report claimed. It stated the lawyers for the trio of songwriters in the complaint: "Upon listening several times [to Swim], plaintiffs came to what they considered to be the obvious and inescapable conclusion that [it] copied in very large part the original work and clearly infringed their copyrights."

Defendants does not include BTS members

The lawsuit is against HYBE, HYBE America, BigHit Music and a handful of the song's credited composers, including the famous songwriter Ryan Tedder, rather than members of BTS by name. The BTS members RM and others who co-wrote the song were reportedly not named as defendants.The central question in the case is whether the defendants heard the plaintiffs' demo before they made the BTS song. The suit claims that the demo was shared with music industry contacts, starting in March 2025, including executives at Artist Publishing Group (APG). The suit claims the demo "could have been shared with songwriters who helped craft the BTS version."

Similarities between SWIM and the demo track

The filing also cites a study by musicologist Alexander Stewart, who found significant similarities in melody, harmony, rhythm and lyrics between the two songs. The complaint says the similarities make independent creation "highly unlikely."The plaintiffs seek damages, a share of the profits from the song, recognition as co-writers of the song and an injunction against further use of SWIM.HYBE and BigHit Music have strongly denied the accusations.BigHit Music said in a statement that the lawsuit was a "one-sided claim" and that SWIM was created independently. The company said it plans to defend the song vigorously through the courts. "We clearly state that Swim is an independently created work," BigHit said.