What would REALLY help I think would be if when the song(s) are "off target" to know WHICH target they WOULD be acceptable for?
I did hear one song that sounded EXACTLY like the sample only different lyrics of course and with the melody turned wrong-side-out or something. Maybe instead of saying not to copy the reference material, they should ask us to come as close as we can without plagiarizing the original?

Thanks for the read!
Ken