Just hoping someone knows a bit about copyright...

In one of my stories I've used a few lines from a song, verbatim, and mentioned the title & band of the song too.
I didn't quote the entire song lyrics, mind you, just some 4 or 5 lines of it.

Can you do that or do you need permission for that and/or need to pay for rights?

In a book I got, the author mentions in her notes that she recognizes that all songs, titles etc. mentioned in her book, aren't hers, but the creative right of someone else.
Well, something like that.

Would that suffice?
Anyone got a clue?

It really depends on the artist.

I've published many images on the internet. Satellite images. So they were taken from government spacecraft. I always had a copyright that let anyone do with them as they pleased as long as they didn't use them for commercial purposes. I never really checked to see if there was a violation of the no commercial use rule. I was never contacted for such use. So ............

I would try to contact whoever wrote the song or the agency involved and ask. Or look at the copyright. It may tell you.

I can't speak for your location/country...but here in the USA, our schools have a 'BLANKET COPY RIGHT' form for any and all copies that we were using as a teaching tool for those children with Autism! This covered any music/printed material/images that we would Xerox for mass class work - things used in our music programs!

So I can't provide you with what 'YOUR' country legal guidelines are but here in America that's taken really seriously.

There are attorneys that can help you with copyright law.


Is it for professional publishing?

Are you making money from your stories?

Or is it just posting on a "story's" forum on the internet?

If you're making money, someone might care. They'll want their piece.

If you're just blogging and having fun I don't think anyone will care.

As long as you cite the original source material and do not claim it as your own you're safe.

Sending you two links. Hope it helps.

Thanks all, and Blondey for the info!
I don't live in the UK, Blondey, I'm Dutch. I do live in the province that your country is named after: Zeeland A Dutch province. We were the first to discover Australia and I guess NZ as well, but didn't see anything that seemed worth our time, so we left it for what it was.

Anyways, just found out that Dutch rules on copyright are basically the same.
You can quote, use a song title, but if the lyrics are being used to enhance the feel and sphere of the story, you will have to pay, even if you use just the one line.

So ... I have a choice; Try to contact the authors of the song, and then find out how the heck I get in touch with Tenacious D, lol
Or ... rewrite the section.

Just read online about a woman asking a band permission and she got it. So you can be lucky.
Would really be a bummer if I have to rewrite, because it's the start of the story and yes, used it to enhance it. Rewriting would mean really rewriting the whole scene, as the vibe and essence will be completely lost without the lyrics.
Hot dang it... Sigh...

When do you NOT need to seek permission?
~When the work is in the public domain. This isn’t always a simple matter to determine, but any work published before 1923 is in the public domain. Some works published after 1923 are also in the public domain. Read this guide from Stanford about how to determine if a work is in the public domain.
~When simply mentioning the title or author of a work. You do not need permission to mention the title of someone’s work. It’s like citing a fact.
~When you are stating unadorned facts. If you copy a list of the 50 states in the United States, you are not infringing on anyone’s copyright. Those are unadorned facts.
~When you are linking to something. Linking does not require permission.
~When the work is licensed under Creative Commons. If this is the case, you should see this prominently declared on the work itself. For instance, the book Mediactive is licensed under Creative Commons, and so are many sites and blogs.
~When you abide by fair use guidelines. If you’re only quoting a few lines from a full-length book, you are likely within fair use guidelines, and do not need to seek permission. BUT this is a gray area.


When should you seek permission?
~When you use copyrighted material in such a way that it cannot be considered fair use. In such cases, crediting the source does not remove the obligation to seek permission. It is expected that you always credit your source regardless of fair use; otherwise, you are plagiarizing.


http://janefriedman.com/2012/01/23/permissions/

So looking forward to reading you !!

Yeah, meaning I will have to either ask permission or rewrite.
I checked a US gov site on copyrights, where you can search if there's a copyright on work. Found some Tenacious D, not the song in specific. But yeah... I don't want to risk trouble. I ain't got money to risk trouble, haha. It's not the first book, so for now it doesn't stop me yet. I'll consider my choices. TBH haven't a clue how you could get in touch with an artist.. record comp prolly gets tons of mails, so I haven't a clue.
Maybe it could be as easy as FB, lol.

I'll let you know when it's ready :) Not there yet, have to look into publishers that take on this kind of work and start sending letters out. Still not sure if I should go for Dutch or American. Maybe I'll do both. Just not waste time, throw it all against the wall in one go and see what sticks.

this is very tricky. example: when one is using a song, (the actual music) in most cases, you may use up to seven seconds without infringing.

when writing, things are a bit different. you can quote without problem. you can use entire paragraphs, too, as long as you are not trying to pass the general idea as your own. in other words you cannot use someone's thoughts to convey your own.

T. S. Eliot once said that “good writers borrow, great writers steal.”
he was famous for using other people's lines and ideas. of course he also had the immense talent to make them his own...

I read the 8 second thing is in the past as well. Has been changed.
If you even use 1 second, you gotta pay.

In a way it's understandable, but sometimes I think these stupid rules and regulation go too far. Too far is having to pay an arm and an leg if you want to use something. I have no idea what the cost would be, but I doubt it would be along the lines of $10.
And I don't expect to make a fortune out of selling books. Esp not if I get a publisher. Then you only get 10% of sales, tax will want quite a lot of that too, so in the end, you basically are earning bleep all. You'd have to get really lucky to make any decent income as a writer. So if you got a steep fee for copyright ... SOmeone like Stephen King could easily afford it, but not me.