Tom Petty To Receive Royalties For Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me'

27 January 2015 | 1:05 pm | Staff Writer

The singers have reached a settlement following a quiet copyright dispute

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Representatives for UK-based crooner du jour Sam Smith have confirmed that the singer has reached a settlement with veteran muso Tom Petty over a copyright dispute in which the publishers of Petty's I Won't Back Down (1989) honed in on similarities between that track and Smith's recent smash, Stay With Me.

According to E! News and Rolling Stone, a representative for Smith issued a statement to both outlets advising they had been approached by the publishers of I Won't Back Down, which was co-written by Petty and Electric Light Orchestra's Jeff Lynne, over concerns that Smith's track — which is nominated for three Grammys at the forthcoming annual ceremony — possessed "similarities heard in the melodies of the choruses of the two compositions".

"Not previously familiar with the 1989 Petty/Lynne song, the writers of Stay With Me listened to I Won't Back Down and acknowledged the similarity," Smith's rep said.

"Although the likeness was a complete coincidence, all involved came to an immediate and amicable agreement in which Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne are now credited as co-writers of Stay With Me along with sam Smith, James Napier and William Phillips."

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As The Sun reports, apparently Petty and Lynne will be eligible for a shared 25% split of royalties for Stay With Me (it is unclear whether this is a retroactive measure, or just going forward), though Rolling Stone suggests they won't be able to be added as recipients for any Grammys the track might win. As Bill Freimuth, senior vice-president of awards, told the Wall Street Journal: "Lynne and Petty will not be considered nominees nor will they be considered Grammy recipients, should the song win."

"Rather, they would be given certificates to honour their participation in the work, just as any other writers of sampled or interpolated work."

You can listen to Smith and Petty/Lynne's tracks separately below, as well as a side-by-side overlay of the two tracks, detuned to the same key to highlight the base melodic similarities.