Sam Smith Has to Give Part of Royalties from ‘Stay With Me’ To Tom Petty

Tom Petty and Sam Smith were recently in a copyright battle over Sam Smith's huge hit 'Stay With Me.' Do you think these two songs sound alike?

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In a recent battle over copyright publishers for the 1989 hit 'I Won't back Down' written by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, contacted the publishers for Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me' saying that there were similarities in the melodies of the choruses.

In this Rolling Stone article they say that Sam Smith and the other writers of 'Stay With Me' were not previously familiar with Tom Petty's song 'I Won't Back Down' but when they heard it they acknowledged that the two were similar. They said the likeness of the two songs was a complete coincidence, and everyone that was involved in the case quickly came to an agreement that Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne will now be credited as co-writers of 'Stay With Me' alongside Sam Smith, James Napier, and William Phillips.

Below is a mashup of the two songs, do you hear any similarities?

I never heard any similarities in the two songs before, but when I listened to the mashup of the two songs, there is certainly a similarity in the two songs. I do think it's a bit far fetched however to say Sam Smith intentionally copied Tom Petty (who BTW is one of my all time favorites). I also don't really think it's fair that Tom Petty should be receiving part of the royalties from 'Stay With Me' and also cited as a co-writer. Either way I love Tom Petty and Sam Smith, so I'm glad they could settle the issue quickly as possible.

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