Micah Mekbib
Upon the release of her debut album in 2021, Olivia Rodrigo faced numerous accusations of plagiarism, with many claiming her songs sounded like those of popular artists released years earlier. Two such allegations were that her “Deja Vu” sounds like Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” from two years prior, and her “Good 4 U” sounds like Paramore’s 2007 hit, “Misery Business.” To avoid expensive copyright infringement suits, Rodrigo retroactively granted songwriting credits to those whom she allegedly copied. She added two members of Paramore as co-writers to “Good 4 U,” and she granted Taylor Swift, producer Jack Antonoff, and St. Vincent writing credits to “Deja Vu.”1 She isn’t the only artist to do this: Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars added writers twice to their hit, “Uptown Funk,” and Sam Smith added Tom Petty and Petty’s cowriter to “Stay With Me.”2 Smith and his co-writers even alleged they were unfamiliar with Tom Petty’s melody, but agreed to add the credits anyway to avoid litigation.3
The consequence? Even though they did not participate in creating Rodrigo’s songs at all, Paramore’s and Swift’s newfound credits now entitle them to a share of the copyright for the respective songs. This makes a few rights available to them namely performance rights–through which owners of musical works can license their works to establishments like broadcast radio and TV stations for a flat fee–and royalties–an ongoing payment made by a licensee to a licensor (the owner of the musical work) for the right to use the work in different ways, like streaming.4 Songwriters can also receive payments from mechanical licenses, which are granted to a publisher who wishes to manufacture or distribute a record, CD, or audio tape for their composition.5 As such, these third-party songwriters arguably gain a windfall while Rodrigo takes a pay cut simply because their songs share melodic similarities.
This trend is difficult to reconcile with an industry whose identity is uniquely defined by new works drawing heavily on older ones. The primary two ways in which we see music influencing music are via interpolation, the incorporation of pre-existing melodies or lyrics into a new composition, and samples, the reworking of existing songs into a new track.6 At some point, the rise in copyright infringement suits over melodic similarities threatens the integrity of the music industry by discouraging artists from engaging in creative derivative practices. Rodrigo’s and other musicians’ decisions set an informal precedent that pressures artists to add retroactive songwriting credits to avoid such litigation, regardless of whether they even agree that a melodic or compositional similarity exists, much less that they were inspired by it.
To be fair, the alternative isn’t appealing, either. Rodrigo would risk exposure to lawsuits from much wealthier, more powerful musicians. She is also likely receiving pressure from her record labels, both subsidiaries of the world's biggest music company, Universal Music Group. Faced with these tensions, it is likely her–and other artists’–safest and smartest move to quietly add the songwriting credits. I’ll conclude with a question for you, reader: are these costly outcomes worth the value of protecting copyright?
[1]Mark Savage, Olivia Rodrigo gives Paramore a writing credit on Good 4 U, BBC (Aug. 25, 2021), https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58327849; Jem Aswad, Olivia Rodrigo Gives Taylor Swift Songwriting Credit on Second ‘Sour’ Song, ‘Déjà vu’, Variety (Jul. 9, 2021), https://variety.com/2021/music/news/olivia-rodrigo-taylor-swift-songwriting-credit-deja-vu-1235015769/; Jem Aswad, Olivia Rodrigo Gives Taylor Swift Songwriting Credit on Second ‘Sour’ Song, ‘Déjà vu’, Variety (Jul. 9, 2021), https://variety.com/2021/music/news/olivia-rodrigo-taylor-swift-songwriting-credit-deja-vu-1235015769/.
[2]Jem Aswad, supra note 1.
[3]Id.
[4]BMI, BMI and Performing Rights, https://www.bmi.com/licensing/entry/business_using_music_bmi_and_performing_rights (last visited Mar. 2, 2026); Caroline Banton, Understanding Royalties: Payments for Using Assets Like Patents and Music, Investopedia (Aug. 23, 2025), https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/royalty.asp.
[5]BMI, supra note 4.
[6] Scott Ashley, Interpolation in Songwriting, The U.S.A. Songwriting Competition, https://www.songwriting.net/blog/interpolation-in-songwriting (last visited Mar. 2, 2026). One example is the use of the melody from “My Favorite Things” in “Seven Rings.”; Central Music Institute, What Is Sampling in Music?, https://www.centralmusicinstitute.com/blog/what-is-sampling-in-music (last visited Mar. 2, 2026). These practices typically require payment to the original owner of the musical work if it has not entered the public domain.