Use of Popular Song Lyrics in Novels

[Tyranna 10]

Just a quick request for advice about what arrangements are necessary for including excerpts of lyrics from a popular song within a passage in a novel; bearing in mind that only part of the song's lyrics will be needed in the relevant passage, and the lyrics will be interspersed with descriptions of the unfolding drama, so as to give a vivid sense that the said popular song is playing over the radio (sic.) at that very moment. For example, the following passage, (please note: this is only an example, not the actual text or popular song that I am going to include):

 

First I was afraid,

-I hear a sound of a breaking window in the distance-

I was petrified.

I froze as a dark shadowy figure crossed the darkened end of the hallway.

...How could I ever live without you by my side,

I could feel the warm snout of Rover, my retriever, against my left leg

...So many nights, thinking how you did me wrong,

-It's HIM, the dirty, conniving....

 

If only part of the lyrics from a song are included, as the above, is it necessary to arrange permission from the music publisher, and if so, do they charge a fee/royalty, and also is it likely that they may have very stringent conditions on how and in what context you can use the lyrics of their song?

 

I have noticed that device of a song playing while a scene unfolds is very common in film, but also a few books employ it, or a similar work such as lines from a poem being recited/recalled. Obviously I would NOT be wanting to include the entire lyrics from the whole song in such a way, as fragments of songs, as above, are much more effective anyway in sucha dramatic context.

Any advice as to this query would be much appreciated, and it would be useful for other regular users of this section to know.....

[De Batz 10]

You'll probably find that, as the copyright holder, whoever owns the publishing rights to those lyrics has some sort of legal power to stop you using them, or to sue for a lot more than you made in the first place if you do use them. But I don't know for definite. When it comes to collecting royalties for things like playing songs on the radio, it's PRS who do that. You might start with them.

 

It sounds like it might be quite effective - I seem to remember you saying you were writing a comic novel - in the right context. It's not something that 'serious' academia is completely above, either. I have it on good authority that a question on one of the Cambridge English papers was:

"Tragedy: When the feeling's gone and you can't go on, it's tragedy. Discuss."

[Karis 11]

You cannot directly use any lyrics owned by anyone else without obtaining permission directly from the copyright owner. Copyright does expire, but in most cases everything's pretty much still protected.

 

Of course, if you're just doing things for personal (non profit) use then you'll be fine, but otherwise, the law is absolutely black and white on this.

[Tyranna 10]

Many Thanks for the advice; I will contact the PRS sometime soon for more info on this; of course, ironically there are a lot of songs which in turn lift their lyrics or titles from famous quotes in literature; also short common phrases such as 'I Love You' which are clearly common currency in so many songs and books that no-one can actually own them! Contacting the PRS should establish what the situation is with grey areas, and also how to locate the copyright owner in the case of using a large chunk of lyrics from a recognisable song.

[Tyranna 10]

Hi, again, folks,

 

Just a quickie to ask again in relation to the OP I made, rather than starting a new thread.

 

All I wanted to know is whether or not you have to ask the artiste/copyright holder if you mention only the TITLE of a song in your novel; e.g. "He could hear 'Tainted Love' by Soft Cell playing on a nearby radio".

Any advice re. this usage of song titles would be most welcome.

[Akeem B 10]

You wouldn't need permission for something like that as you're just mentioning a song title, and not infringing its copyright. If you did, that would be similar to a script writer needing permission for a character to mention 'Justin Beaber - Baby' in their line. Ridiculous. It would actually be considered as promotion.

[Tyranna 10]

Thanks, Akeem, I was just wondering about whether I had to ask permission from music publishers just to mention a song title, as it would be anyway of more benefit to the music publisher than the author of the book; I wonder if it is allowed to mention a limited number of words from a song without permission if it includes the title; for example: "She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah, she loves..."

[Akeem B 10]

I'm not sure about that, only way to find out is to ask a music publisher . . .