According to a representative from Caro Emerald, a musician promoting in Netherlands, they critiqued Primary's skills fairly high and even went so far as titling him as a talented producer.
Quoted from the text above, producer David Schreurs told Dispatch, "I would like to say that Primary sounds like a talented producer. He uses our music as a template to create his own, which is an honor but on some songs, he's just going too far with it. I would like to say he should start trusting his own talent, because he sure is a good producer."
As hot as the 'Infinity Challenge Music Festival' has gotten from all the press, it's no different that Primary's head is growing hotter too, except in all the wrong reasons due to plagiarism accusations for his collaboration track with Park Myung Soo titled 'I Got C' for the popular TV show 'Infinity Challenge.' The track was accused of sounding similar to Netherland's famous musician Caro Emerald's track, 'Liquid Lunch.'
With the spotlight on Primary because of 'I Got C,' his past works were also exposed and flamed for sounding similar to Emerald's other tracks, including 'Happy Ending' from his first album, Park Ji Yoon's 'Mr. Lee,' and the sketch version of 'I Got C' that was heard on 'Infinity Challenge.'
A representative of Primary came into defense in regards to the plagiarism accusations saying that the similarity comes from being within the same genre, that the 'retro swing' genre gives a similar ambiance to one another. They also claimed that it's absurd for Primary to bring a plagiarized track on a nationally broadcast show. Unfortunately for Primary and Amoeba Culture, the public begs to differ from their defense, as suspicion still remains.
Is it plagiarism or is it all a misunderstanding? Dispatch attempted an interview on the 4th with Emerald's representatives who live in Netherlands. We raised our questions to David Schreurs, the producer of the 'songwriting' team and manager of Emerald.
◆ I Got C: "The accusations of this track mixing 3 of Emerald's tracks"
In being the center of the spotlight of controversy, Schreurs claimed that 'I Got C' had mixed 3 of Emerald's tracks into one, the three tracks being 'You Don't Love Me' released in January of 2010, 'Liquid Lunch' released in September of 2013, and 'Paris.' He claims that the track weaved the important parts of all three tracks into one.
Of course, Schreurs doesn't go as far as claiming it 'plagiarism' however, he just pinpointed that the ambiance of certain parts were very similar. To point out exactly which parts sound similar, the into for 'I Got C' sounds similar to 'You Don't Love Me' and the melody of the line "My newly polished shoes and my pocket's abundant in a wealthy year" sounds like the 00:57 - 01:15 mark of 'Liquid Lunch.'
He also mentioned the chorus where Park Myung Soo sings, "Oo lady, oh yeah lady" sounding similar to the opening of 'Liquid Lunch.' Last but not least, the line "I'm not mad but I'm chic. I think I've fallen for myself. I just simply winked" reminds us of the electronic piano sound from 'Paris.'
Schreurs said, "The piano intro and the chorus horn sound similar to 'You Don't Love Me'" and "The chord and melody during the verse sound similar to 'Liquid Lunch' and the 'Middle 8' bridge part is carried similarly to the chords for 'Paris.'"
◆Mr. Lee (Mystery): "The overall composition sounds similar to 'One Day'"
Park Ji Yoon's comeback track 'Mr. Lee (Mystery)' was written and composed by Primary himself while Park Ji Yoon sang the song. Unfortunately for Park Ji Yoon, this track received the spotlight in suspicion for plagiarism along with 'I Got C.' According to netizens, the plagiarism was from none other than Emerald once again. The suggested track was 'One Day,' which was a part of the album released last May.
We were curious as to what Emerald and the songwriting team thought of this and Schreurs responded by criticizing that the overall composition for 'Mr. Lee' sounded similar to 'One Day,' from the chord system to the composition, as well as similar instruments being used. What made the similarity more noticeable was how the accompaniment and melody was carried in the intro especially.
First off, the first claim was that at the 00:42 mark for 'Mr. Lee,' it sounded like the 00:42 mark for 'One Day' also. Next was the 00:56-01:11 mark of 'Mr. Lee' sounding similar to 00:59-01:24 of 'One Day.' In other words, the the melody for the introduction, how the first verse was carried out, the chorus, and the melody were parallel in similarity.
Schreurs said, "I especially like this track out of Primary's tracks, as the sound is very fresh" and "But I can't erase the feeling of the chord system, structure, drum track, use of instruments, and overall sound being similar to 'One Day.'"
◆Happy Ending: "It has the basics from two of Emerald's tracks from 2010."
'Happy Ending' has also become the target for the debate on Primary's plagiarism accusations, as the timing of the release for both 'Happy Ending' and 'The Other Woman' played a pivotal role for the accusation this time. Primary's fans came into defense in saying that 'Happy Ending' was released in 2011, which was faster than Emerald's 'The Other Woman,' claiming that this round of accusations was merely because of similarity in genre.
But with further investigation, it was found that 'The Other Woman' was actually released in 2010 but was a part of Emerald's first official album later on, making it that 'The Other Woman' was released a year before 'Happy Ending.' It wasn't just 'The Other Woman' that was a victim as there is said to be another track involved.
According to Schreurs, he claimed that 'Happy Ending' was referenced from 'I Know that He's Mine,' a track released on January 29, 2010. He claimed that 'Happy Ending' sounded much more similar to this than 'The Other Woman,' adding on that everything sounded similar besides the melody.
Schreurs said, "I believe 'Happy Ending' sounds more similar to 'I Know that He's Mine.' It has the basics from that track" and emphasized "From strum guitar to the guitar solo part, even the horn sound, harmonica, baritone, saxophone, percussion, and beats, they all sound the same."
◆"Primary, could it be plagiarism...and what are Emerald's thoughts?"
From Shinsadong Tiger's 'No No No' to Roy Kim's 'Spring Spring Spring,' as well as IU's 'Pink Shoes' and now Primary. The year 2013 seems to be an endless year of plagiarism controversies for the music industry but none of those tracks have been taken to court. With the excuse of new chords growing extinct, it seems that there's a limit to an original sound and you just can't deny it, even if you claim it's a similarity in genres.
To plagiarize is to use either some or all of someone else's copyrighted item. The political term for this is 'plagiarism.' Now, how many times did Schreurs, producer for Emerald, use the term 'plagiarism' in our interview with 'Dispatch'?
He actually didn't claim any of the tracks were plagiarized. The closest he's gotten to phrasing something similar was when he said that it can "be seen as plagiarism." When asked if this was a sign of plagiarism, he said, "I think it's up to a judge to decide this, not us."
Instead, he said, "He uses our music as a template to create his own, which is an honor but on some songs he's just going too far with it. I would like to say that he should start trusting his own talent, because he sure is a good producer!"
Last but not least, he showed his gratitude. The representative of Emerald said, "Hopefully, Primary's current success will help introduce our music to the South Korean public, and people will discover the Grandmono philosophy of releasing luxury vinyls, deluxe CD packages, and album apps. And even better, we would love to come over and perform live and on TV!"
<Next is the comparison clips to Primary and Emerald's songs. If you listen to the two songs, there are similarities but also at times, has a completely different feel. Of course, there will be parts that Emerald claimed to sound similar but it could also be of a result from the specialties that this genre brings like Primary had claimed.
Source: Dispatch via Nate
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