Daft Punk Allegedly Copied ‘Get Lucky’ Tune From Korean Guitarist Zack Kim’s ‘Robot Dance’

Music fans are crying foul after it was recently brought to light that Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” might have been copied from YouTube sensation Zack Kim’s “Robot Dance.”

According to a report by Metro, a Reddit user was the first to note the similarity between the two tracks, kick-starting a debate on whether the resemblance between the two tracks went beyond mere coincidence.

Kim is a Korean guitarist who became a YouTube sensation after using two guitars at once to play the “Super Mario Bros” and “The Simpsons” themes. He posted his “Robot Dance” video on YouTube in 2011 while Daft Punk’s single, featuring Pharrell Williams, was released only earlier this year.

A number of YouTube users want Daft Punk to financially compensate Kim for allegedly stealing the tune, but Bonnie Hayes, chair of the songwriting department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, believes the controversy is unfounded.

According to her, the only similarity that can be noted between the two songs is their chord progression.

“The tempo is close, but even the rhythmic structure is different,” Hayes told Metro. “All I hear is the chord progression in common.”

Singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt told the publication that there are many songs with the same 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.”

Daft Punk is not the only artist currently embroiled in a stealing controversy. Robin Thicke, whose “Blurred Lines” has become a summer anthem, has been accused of stealing Marvin Gaye's 1977 classic, "Got to Give It Up" by Gaye’s family, and they have asked for monetary compensation for copyright infringement.