Young Lex Is Being Accused Of Plagiarism, This Is The Reasons A Work Is Called Plagiarism

JAKARTA - The song titled Raja Terakhir (The Last King), which was recently released by Young Lex on his YouTube channel went on entered trending Tuesday morning, March 9. Not because of positive appreciation, but because it was considered plagiarism for Lay EXO's song Lit. Not only the music, even the music video of these two songs also have many similarities.

Netizens filled the comments section of the Raja Terakhir music video with blasphemy because they felt the video was similar to Lay EXO's music video entitled Lit. In fact, they are busy peeling whatever the two have in common.

If you summarize the comments of netizens highlighting the music videos of both of them have the same pattern, starting with a prologue without music. Then the royal staircase, plus the appearance of a dragon. Even so, the workmanship clearly differs in quality. The choreography of the dance, to the costume worn, all resemble Lit's music video which was released in June 2020. Young Lex's position in the music video is also very similar to what Lay EXO shows.

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According to the Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), plagiarism is taking other people's essays (opinions and so on) and making it appear as if they were their own essays (opinions and so on), for example publishing someone else's written work on their own behalf.

In music, plagiarism is not the first time this has happened. In Indonesia, the last case of popular plagiarism was when the song Kekeyi was said to plagiarize Rinni Wulandari's song titled Aku Bukan Boneka. People feel that the vibe of Keke Bukan Boneka is the same as the second single song from Rinni's debut album, Aku Tetap Milikmu (2007), which has a catchy tune with witty lyrics.

What makes it sound even more similar is the tempo. Rinni even had to upload a video of her singing Aku Bukan Boneka with the music video for Keke Bukan Boneka.

From this case, Rinni learned to see the boundaries of cover and plagiarism. Because in the digital world, plagiarism is easier to track. And the space for collaboration is also getting wider in the digital era.

"For me, if the song is covered, I'm really happy. If it's limited to cover on Youtube, social media, no permission is needed. So, go ahead", said Rinni when talking with VOI in Lebak Bulus area, South Jakarta some time ago. It's a different matter when someone re-works without permission which becomes plagiarism.

Plagiarism Limits

Soundwave, the duo Jevin, and Rini were quite active in making old EDM songs, but they didn't want to be plagiarism. "The songs we make actually have those who take care of the copyright as well. We want our works to be properly respected, not to be used without anyone's permission. For example, if we have permission for it to be reproduced, re-released, we have to have permission", he said.

Jevin is also open to collaborative work in this digital era. "The limit of a song being plagiarized is if the melody and lyrics are the same, which is more intricate and visible. Actually, the chord can also be plagiarized, but not too many people pay attention to the progression of the chord. The most noticeable thing is the melody and lyrics, and there are limits. If I'm not mistaken, it is 8 bars limit. If it's more than that, it's already called plagiarism", he said.

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Music Observer Opinion

According to music observer Denny MR, this can be seen from two factors: notation or nuance. If the notation has a certain quota or limit, it is different from the usual nuances that many people talk about. Usually, a song is said to be plagiarized when there are 3 notes that match exactly.

We often hear the similarity of nuances that a song provides with other songs. For example Kekeyi's and Rinni's songs. Even though they have different themes, the two songs share an understanding that is conveyed in a similar way.

Denny MR then mentioned two ways that a musician can avoid acts of plagiarism. First, a musician's principle and integrity that do not want plagiarism. Because even though it was written originally, in fact, we might have done it too.

The second is about insight. Enrich your knowledge of music by listening to various music genres, so that you know the nuances or a song cannot be remade carelessly because there is copyright protection behind it.

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