In January 2015 , it was revealed that an agreement had been reached whereby Petty and Jeff Lynne would be credited as co-writers of Sam Smith 's song " Stay with Me " and receive 12.5 % of its royalties . Petty 's publishing company had contacted Smith 's publisher after noticing a likeness between " Stay with Me " and " I Wo n't Back Down " . Petty clarified that he did not believe Smith plagiarized him , saying " All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen . Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by . Sam 's people were very understanding of our predicament and we easily came to an agreement " . Smith claimed he had never heard " I Wo n't Back Down " before he wrote " Stay with Me " , but he acknowledged the similarity after listening to the song , and said that the likeness was " a complete coincidence " . Petty and Lynne were not eligible for a Grammy Award ( " Stay with Me " was nominated for three awards at the 57th annual ceremony , winning two of them ) as the Recording Academy considered " Stay with Me " to have been interpolated from " I Wo n't Back Down " by Smith , James Napier , and William Phillips , the writers of " Stay with Me " ; Petty and Lynne were instead given certificates to honor their participation in the work , as is usual for writers of sampled or interpolated work
57th annual ceremony
57th Annual Grammy Awards
I Won't Back Down