Hit single ‘Swim’ by BTS is now at the center of a copyright lawsuit, with fresh plagiarism charges. Three American songwriters allege the track copied their unreleased demo, and the group’s label has pushed back firmly against the claim.
The case landed in a US federal court this week. Steve Cooper, Jon Sandler, and Greylyn Johnson filed the complaint on Wednesday, July 8, in the US District Court for the Central District of California. Their claim centers on a song written a year before BTS released their version. They allege that “Swim,” the lead single from BTS’s album “Arirang,” reproduces a composition of the same name that the three of them wrote and recorded as a demo in early 2025.
How the Demo allegedly reached BTS’s team
The plaintiffs say their song circulated through industry channels before BTS recorded their track. The plaintiffs completed their “Swim” demo in March 2025 and began sending it to industry contacts to gauge interest, including the publishing company Artist Publishing Group. The complaint alleges that APG representatives listened to the demo and shared it with others, including Derrick Milano, a songwriter signed to APG and a credited co-writer of BTS’s “Swim.”
The demo reportedly spread further from there. The lawsuit says the plaintiffs also sent the recording to Noreen Prunier-Winans, described as head of A&R and publishing at ATG Group, who then shared it with other songwriters and producers. BTS worked on the “Arirang” album in Los Angeles in 2025, meeting songwriters and producers to select material, according to the complaint. The album released in March 2026.
The musicologist’s findings
After the song’s release, the plaintiffs brought in outside expertise to support their claim. In April 2026, they engaged musicologist Alexander Stewart to compare the two songs. His report pointed to several overlapping elements. Stewart found that the BTS version included elements he described as taken from the demo, covering the title hook, harmonies, textures, rhythm, and lyrics.
Stewart has worked on high-profile music copyright cases before, though not always successfully for the plaintiffs. He has previously been retained in copyright cases involving Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” both of which ended with juries rejecting the infringement claims.
Who is named in the case
The lawsuit lists a range of companies and individuals as defendants. The plaintiffs named HYBE, HYBE America, and BigHit Music as defendants, along with the song’s credited writers, including former OneRepublic member Ryan Tedder. Other named writers include James Essien, Jamison Baken, who records as Leclair, Tyler Spry, Sean Foreman, and Kirsten Spencer, alongside Milano.
BTS members themselves are not part of the legal action. Neither BTS nor its members were defendants, although RM is one of the songwriters on the track. The HYBE producer Pdogg is also a writer of “Swim” but is a defendant.
What the plaintiffs are seeking
The songwriters are asking for significant compensation and control over the song’s future use. They are requesting a court order blocking future use of “Swim,” along with damages and a share of the profits the song has generated, with the amount to be determined during trial. As an alternative, they are asking for credit as co-writers of nearly all of BTS’s “Swim” and to receive nearly all of the profits it has generated, along with a full accounting.
Attempts to resolve the dispute before filing
The plaintiffs say they tried to settle the matter privately first. The complaint says the plaintiffs contacted the defendants before filing on July 8 in an attempt to resolve the dispute, but that they either did not respond or could not reach a resolution.
HYBE’s response
The label has firmly rejected the accusations. BigHit Music dismissed the claim as one-sided and pledged a strong legal response, maintaining that “Swim” was independent creation.