According to Wikipedia, another track from Air, in addition to "Tori no Uta", has allegedly been copied by the
very same artist, Shaun Yu. Will this shameless act of plagiarism never end?
______________________________________________________________________________
Currently, music from the game and anime are undergoing controversy. On August 27, 2005, Anime News Network reported that Singaporean musician Shaun Yu may have plagiarized "Tori no Uta". Yu's current album, The Best of Shaun Yu, features a track called "Melody" which sounds like the AIR theme. Though Key has made no official statement at this time, an investigation is ongoing.[1]
On September 21, it was reported that a second song on the album, "Magic", may have been plagiarized from another song on the AIR soundtrack, "Tenshi no Kyujitsu". Yu has stated that his producers, YesMusic, had arranged both tracks, and that he was unaware of the situation. YesMusic, in turn, has stated that they licensed the rights to the song from Key/Visual Art's for mainland China distribution, but that the album came out in Taiwan before licensing could be arranged for that territory. However, Key/Visual Art's denies this, as per a statement on their website:
Official Announcement Regarding Plagiarism of Tori no Uta Thank you very much for supporting products of our humble company. According to information provided by fans, we've learned that Shaun Yu's 真愛çæ„›2005風行精é¸é›† distributed by SONY BMG Entertainment (Taiwan) is suspected plagiarizing our music - Tori no Uta. We apologize for worrying supporting fans. We have filed a formal complaint to SONY BMG Entertainment (Taiwan) and made following demands:
1. Apologize publicly on the web.
2. Credit the composer of Tori no Uta to Shinji Orito clearly.
3. If the above two requirements are fulfilled, we will not ask for financial compensations.
We have been negotiating with SONY BMG Entertainment (Taiwan) with those terms. Regrettably, å£å¿ å±,
director of YesMusic, the production company of this CD, has made a false announcement today that he had purchased
distribution rights from us. It is a pity and is regrettable. In order to show our objection to his plagiarizing actions
and his dishonest attitude, we shall not license any of our creation to them, including Tori no Uta. These days, we have
received supports from both Japanese and Taiwanese fans. You have our immense gratitude. Please keep supporting our
humble company, Key, in the future.
To date, Sony BMG has pulled all copies of the album and issued a recall of all albums sold.
________________________________________________________________________________