While the Sam Smith tune “Stay With Me”, off of his album In The Lonely Hour, is up for three Grammy awards this year, including Song of the Year, Record of The Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance, its co-writer Tom Petty won’t be receiving the award along with Smith if it wins. Earlier this week, it was reported that the two had become co-writers on the song as “Stay With Me” sounded similar to Petty’s song “I Won’t Back Down.” Each writer including Jeff Lynne, received a 12.5% writing credit for the track.
Senior Vice President of the Grammy’s Bill Freimuth, gave The Wall Street Journal the answer, which you can see below.
“Since Lynne and Petty did not do any new writing for this work, we are considering their original work to have been interpolated by Napier, Phillips, and Smith for ‘Stay With Me’,” Freimuth said. “Lynne and Petty will not be considered nominees nor will they be considered GRAMMY recipients, should the song win. Rather, they would be given certificates to honor their participation in the work, just as any other writers of sampled or interpolated work.”
