How to Check If Your Melody Already Exists (and What to Do If It’s Too Close)
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Almost every songwriter has had the moment: a melody arrives that feels finished, and then you wonder whether you wrote it or remembered it. That worry is reasonable. Popular melodies share a lot of common building blocks, and the songs you have heard stay in your memory. Overlaps are often accidental, which is why it is worth checking before release.
If you are asking how to know if a melody already exists, there is no single tool that checks it against every song ever written. What you can do is combine a few quick checks that catch the most likely problems. This guide covers five of them, how to change a line that is too close, and why it helps to keep a record of how you wrote the song.
How to check if your melody already exists: five checks
1. Hum it into a song search
Hum or sing the hook into Google’s Hum to Search or SoundHound. Try it a few times. If the same song keeps coming up, listen to it next to yours.
2. Run your recording through Shazam
Play your full track to Shazam. It recognizes existing recordings, so it is most useful for catching a sample, loop or backing track taken from a released song. It usually won’t recognize a melody you sang or played yourself, so no match here doesn’t mean the melody is new.
3. Search your most distinctive lyric lines
Put your most memorable lines in quotation marks and search for them. If a line came to you with its words already attached, a match on the words is a good reason to check the tune too.
4. Ask two or three people to listen blind
Play the song to friends who listen to a lot of music, without telling them what you are checking. Ask one question: “What song does this remind you of?” If two people name the same song, take it seriously.
5. Listen again a few days later
Listen again with fresh ears. If a part keeps sounding familiar after a few days, take that seriously and run the other checks on it.
These checks lower the risk of an accidental overlap. They can’t guarantee that a song doesn’t infringe someone else’s, and you remain responsible for what you release.
If it sounds too close, change it
You don’t always need to start over. Find the few notes that make the line recognizable, usually the opening shape and the rhythm, and change those. Moving the starting note, changing the rhythm of the middle, or ending on a different note can move it away from the song it reminded people of, as in this example:
First draft, which a friend says sounds familiar (example written for this guide)
After the change (same words)
After changing it, run the checks again, especially the blind listen. If it still reminds people of the same song, change more.
Keep a record of how you wrote it
Save your drafts as you go, with dates: voice memos, early versions, lyric drafts. Records made while you write are far more convincing than anything put together after a question comes up. Together they tell the story of how the song was made. They describe your process, but they aren’t legal proof of authorship or originality.
How similar is too similar?
There is no fixed number of matching notes that makes a song too similar. Courts in different countries look at similarity in different ways. As one example, the model jury instructions written for federal courts in the western United States (the Ninth Circuit) say that copying can be presumed when the person bringing the claim proves that the person accused had access to the earlier song and that the two share substantial similarities in the earlier song’s original elements, or proves the similarity is so striking that coincidence is unlikely. The person accused can rebut this by showing that they created the song independently. This is only one part of what a court looks at.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. If you are worried about a specific song, or someone has raised a claim, talk to a music lawyer or a forensic musicologist.
Keep going
If you are reworking a melody anyway, the checks in what makes a good melody will help it hold up. For fresh starting points that lead somewhere new, see how to come up with a melody. To rework a line and keep a record of every edit, start a free trial of Mouta Studio on a desktop browser.
Common questions
How do I know if my melody already exists?
Run the five checks above: a hum search, Shazam on the full track, a search for your lyric lines, a blind listen with friends, and a second listen a few days later. Together they catch the most common overlaps.
Can these checks guarantee my song doesn’t infringe?
No. They catch the most common overlaps, but no check covers every song. They lower the risk, and you remain responsible for what you release.
Is using the same chords as another song a problem?
Many songs share common chord progressions. Melody and lyrics are usually what make a song recognizable, so they are where to focus your checks. For a specific case, ask a music lawyer.
What if a short phrase of mine matches another song?
Short phrases overlap often, because there are only so many ways to move between a few notes. A short match is still worth a closer listen: if the line, with its rhythm and words, makes listeners think of the other song, change it. If you are unsure about a specific case, ask a music lawyer.
What should I do if someone says my song copies theirs?
Don’t argue it in public. Gather your dated drafts and records, and talk to a music lawyer before you respond.