Did Daft Punk steal “Get Lucky” from a YouTube star? Redditors are crying foul over a YouTube video called “Robot Dance,” featuring guitarist Zack Kim. Kim has gained web fame for using two guitars at once to play the “Super Mario Bros.” and “The Simpsons” themes.
The resemblance is certainly uncanny, and at first listen it sounds like a fun, catchy cover of one of summer’s hottest tracks – that is, until you see the date. “Robot Dance” was posted in 2011 — Daft Punk’s infectious single, featuring Pharrell Williams, was released earlier this year.
YouTube users are engaged in a fierce debate as to whether or not the similarities are a coincidence or something more sinister. Several commenters are calling on Daft Punk to write a check to Kim.
But Bonnie Hayes, chair of the songwriting department at Berklee College of Music in Boston and songwriter for artists like Bonnie Raitt, said the controversy is unfounded. She pointed out that the only similarity between the two songs is their chord progression.
“The tempo is close, but even the rhythmic structure is different,” she said. “All I hear is the chord progression in common.”
In fact, Hayes said it can’t even be called a coincidence when so many songs share a chord progression.
“There are thousands of songs in the last two years that have the same chord progressions all in the chorus,” she said. “Unfortunately, chord progressions can’t be copyrighted. If they could, there would only be eight songs.”
Nonetheless, Kim will probably enjoy the comparisons – the musician has covered Daft Punk before in his YouTube videos. Plus, some new fans are saying they prefer Kim’s lively tune.
