Song Lyrics Citation Assistance

[Carlos Hazday]

Does anyone have an example of how to properly cite a song's lyrics in a story?

 

I'm quoting a portion of one in a chapter of Autumn and want to give the proper acknowledgement to the author.

[Aditus]

As far as I know, you need at least to write the name of the songwriter, and the singer/band, who sings the song, as well as the title. I often include a youtube link, just in case the reader doesn't know the song, to get the mood or w/e.

[Carlos Hazday]

Thanks, Adi. In this case the music would actually be a distraction! LOL

 

The words relate to the theme of the chapter and I plan on quoting a verse or two. I'll credit the writer/singer in the chapter itself, but was wondering what the actual legal language needed to be.

[Ron]

One of the main news pages covered this a while back, Carlos. It was covering copyright in general. I don't remember the specific date. You can also Google copyrights and quotes, and that should find you enough info to work with.

 

Edit:  https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/blog/258/entry-14718-copyright-infringment-keeping-it-legal/

Edited July 11, 2015 by Ron

[Carlos Hazday]

Thanks, Ron. I'll check here on GA.

 

I love Google but it can be a pain I've searched in a bunch of ways and all return the same stuff: articles about how it's dangerous to quote lyrics in fiction due to the potential for being sued! LOL

[Aditus]

If you want to do this by the book, you're not allowed to cite more than a few words, if at all, without asking the author/songwriter/publisher. Usually it's not a problem, if you don't make any money of it though.

 

One official way way to do the citation properly: Group, Composer or Performer, Title, Medium, Recording Company, Year of release

[Carlos Hazday]

If you want to do this by the book, you're not allowed to cite more than a few words, if at all, without asking the author/songwriter/publisher. Usually it's not a problem, if you don't make any money of it though.

 

One official way way to do the citation properly: Group, Composer or Performer, Title, Medium, Recording Company, Year of release

 Thank you.

 

I have written permission from the author to quote as much of the lyrics as i want.

[Aditus]

Perfect.

[Carlos Hazday]

One of the main news pages covered this a while back, Carlos. It was covering copyright in general. I don't remember the specific date. You can also Google copyrights and quotes, and that should find you enough info to work with.

 

Edit:  https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/blog/258/entry-14718-copyright-infringment-keeping-it-legal/

 

Hey, Ron--

 

Thanks for adding the link, I went looking for it as soon as you mentioned it.

Copyright infringement is the 800lbs gorilla when it comes to quoting lyrics but I'm definitely safe in that regard here.

I have in the past used the title of songs, books and movies in my stories but those are not protected. Guess the lawyers can't come after me!

 

Thanks again!

[Adam Phillips]

Thanks for the discussion and the links to the extended discussion.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Adam Phillips

[Cia]

Also, fyi, if you're attributing copyright, it's fine to do so within the story and/or chapter notes, and not in the text itself.

[The Pecman]

Generally, published books will add the appropriate copyright notices in the indicia at the beginning of the novel. There's been some fairly huge novels where at the last minute, the music publisher asked for a huge amount of money and the song lyrics had to be deleted. This actually happened to no less than Stephen King, who quoted from the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" or something like that in one of his 1990s stories, and the publisher (Almo Music) wanted like $50K or something, which is outrageous. King dropped the song and used a competing one like "I Live for the Sun" or something like that, one that cost him nothing more than a permission letter and a printed thank you.

 

I think if it's just something with a very narrow audience on the internet, they're not ever going to find you. But in the interest of fairness, keep the excerpt short (maybe two or three bars), then attribute the composers, the publisher, and the name of the artist. You can find out the name of the publisher and proper names of the songwriters on BMI.com, ASCAP.com, and SESAC.com. If your novel is being posted online chapter-by-chapter, I think a footnote at the very end of the chapter with the songwriter/publisher info is fine. Once the novel is finished, move it to the very end of the novel or the very beginning, whichever works best for layout.

[Adam Phillips]

Generally, published books will add the appropriate copyright notices in the indicia at the beginning of the novel. There's been some fairly huge novels where at the last minute, the music publisher asked for a huge amount of money and the song lyrics had to be deleted. This actually happened to no less than Stephen King, who quoted from the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" or something like that in one of his 1990s stories, and the publisher (Almo Music) wanted like $50K or something, which is outrageous. King dropped the song and used a competing one like "I Live for the Sun" or something like that, one that cost him nothing more than a permission letter and a printed thank you.

 

I think if it's just something with a very narrow audience on the internet, they're not ever going to find you. But in the interest of fairness, keep the excerpt short (maybe two or three bars), then attribute the composers, the publisher, and the name of the artist. You can find out the name of the publisher and proper names of the songwriters on BMI.com, ASCAP.com, and SESAC.com. If your novel is being posted online chapter-by-chapter, I think a footnote at the very end of the chapter with the songwriter/publisher info is fine. Once the novel is finished, move it to the very end of the novel or the very beginning, whichever works best for layout.

 

Thanks for your thoughts on this and your suggestions. I need to go back and take care of this in my work.

[The Pecman]

And always remember there's a good chance the performing artist may not have written the song at all. It's always important when you're quoting lyrics to actually cite the person responsible for creating them.