Gallo Records has come forward to defend Paxton Fielies following allegations that the 16-year old Idols SA finalist has stolen a song Demonstration.
The accusations emerged from a Twitter user Nick with the handle:@ultboysrepubIic who mentioned that the song was being “sold without any kind of credit”.
The kpop girl group Rania/BP Rania released a song on November 5th, 2015 which was titled ‘Demonstrate’. Recently on the show SA Idols, the contestant Paxton performed a song titled ‘Demonstrate’ which seen below is almost completely the same as the original performed RaNia... pic.twitter.com/w6XtTSBHef
— nick🍂 (@ultboysrepubIic) November 13, 2017
“Not only is the song being performed without credit to the original artists who sang it or the writers/composers, it is also being sold without any kind of credit. Please RT this and/or share the story to get the story out there,” a tweet read.
Gallo Records then issued a formal statement below:
It has come to attention that certain individuals on social media have accused Paxton of plagiarism and theft based on her debut Idols single “Demonstrate”.
1. This is not theft. Paxton is the SINGER of the song only, she has not and does not claim to have written the song or to own the Copyright.
2. Very few people write their own songs when it comes to Idols.
3. There is a difference between a composer or songwriter and a performer. Even big stars like Justin Bieber perform hits written for them by others. This does not mean they have stolen the song.
Here are the facts:
4. The song was presented to Gallo by the Publishers (Razor & Tie Music Pub. & Active Music Publishing) on behalf of their clients (Aimée Proal, Phil Bentley & Brian Kierulf who are the legitimate and original composers / songwriters of the song) for Idols consideration for the Top 3 as a single, since it was a perfect fit for Paxton, and had never been previously released as an English version. An English recorded version of the song did not exist.
5. Gallo was unaware that any other previous version existed, in particular a version sung and released by a Kpop band in Korean, for the Korean market.
6. In fact the written English demo version existed before any Korean version was adapted.
7. Regardless of the above – Changes were done to the song and the English lyrics (by the original songwriter) for Paxton’s version.
8. The Kpop version is also in fact NOT written by the band. They are also only the performers / singers of the song and as much as they say it’s “their” song that only means they performed / sang a Korean version of it prior to Paxton’s English version and they did not write it either. It is written by the same composers and songwriters who presented the English version to Gallo and gave Gallo and Paxton their 100% approval and endorsement for Paxton to release.
In summary:
All rights are Approved. No rights infringement, no plagiarism, no theft, it is a talented young girl singing a song that was given to her to sing, presented to her label by the parties who wrote it, to release as her version in another language (with lyrics reworked into English), with the approval of the publishers, songwriters and composers, who will also get paid, by earning royalty revenue from any commercial success.
9. Paxton is singing a re-worked song (as the original English version was written) given to her with the blessing and approval of all the rights holders. There is thus no wrong-doing.
May we kindly request no further accusations or hate speech or slander directed at Paxton.
Please also refer to the other official statement from the SA Publisher on behalf of the lawful copyright holders for further clarity. Both documents are below for public perusal.
Paxton is not on Twitter – there were a number of fake accounts that joined in the fray pretending to be Paxton, we have reported them and they have been suspended.
Congrats to #IdolsSA Top 2 Paxton & Mthokozisi
*The Idols SA finale will be held at Carnival City next Sunday November 19.