Sam Smith will pay Tom Petty songwriting royalties for 'Stay with Me'

Sam Smith's 2014 hit "Stay with Me" bore striking similarity to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down," and now Smith is paying the price.

Smith's rep told Rolling Stone that "the likeness was a complete coincidence." He added that the "Stay with Me" writers were "not previously familiar" with Petty's hit, but when they heard it, they "acknowledged the similarity."

Smith agreed to pay Petty royalties for the song, and Petty and singer-composer Jeff Lynne will get a 12.5 percent songwriting credit.

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