u/PlantFar1874

Hey everyone, I wanted to bring some awareness to what looks like a pretty blatant arrangement theft happening right now. I don't use Reddit very often, but I felt like I had to share this here to see what you all think.

A larger piano creator on Instagram (Valentinos piano) recently released an arrangement for "Drowning Love" and is charging $12 for the sheet music on his store.

I did some digging into the timelines, and from what I can tell, he didn't arrange this. It appears to be a note-for-note copy of an arrangement made by a smaller Japanese arranger named Tatsu, who posted his version way back in May and sells his sheets for only 500 yen (~$3).

If you compare the two, Valentino basically cut out the first part of Tatsu's arrangement. His Instagram video plays one-for-one exactly what Tatsu plays starting at the 1:44 mark of Tatsu's YouTube video. It sounds slightly different because of the specific piano/VST they are each using, but the notes, rhythm, and voicing are completely identical.

Valentino's post has over 50k likes right now from people who think he created this, while Tatsu's original video only has around 50k views total.

I did my research before posting this, checking the upload dates and comparing the notes, but I'm not 100% sure about every single behind-the-scenes detail since I'm just a fan. Feel free to check the timelines yourself and let me know if I missed something. But looking at the release dates, it really looks like a copycat situation. I don't know anything about this type of situation or if its common or accepted? just thought id put my opinion out there.

• Original Arrangement by Tatsu (Posted in May):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOAD9jE0eNg
• The Copycat Video by Valentino:https://www.instagram.com/p/DaJWNneoS1V/?hl=en
• Valentino's Profile:https://www.instagram.com/valentinospiano/?hl=en

On his instagram Post as of now there seems to be no-one really bringing this to attention.