If you use it as a symbol of something, then use it. It's hard to say whether it is good or not, because there are situations were it works, and there are situations where it does not. It can also just come down to your ability as a writer: can you write that well?
There is clearly no nuance in the answer given by the copyright office. If it is the title, you can quote it. If you don't believe them then you cannot be convinced.
You can quote the title, but you might not be able to quote the words in the title if they're quoted as lyrics. Do you honestly not see the difference?
I see the point you are making but know that it isn't important. The title is quotable. If a series of words is the title, you can quote it as such. If that series of words appears in a thousand songs' lyrics and you quote it as the title of the song which it is the title to, you have not violated any copyright law.
See, the thing is that none of the links you posted address this issue, so as of right now you have no source to back you up.
Because I don't want people reading this thread to think it's OK to quote lyrics without first knowing what's right and what's not.
I just came up with a different take on this problem. If you use a real song, you might be dating your book. Basically you're locking it into a time period, which if it's not set in the past... Basically, it might be ripped out anyway for fear of alienating some readers.
All I want to do is follow the rules on copyright. And this is getting so confusing. Maybe I should just scrap the book and start over. I honestly didn't even think about it when I was writing it. Then I seen something on it mentioned and thought OMG, I never thought about this. So that's when I went digging and I knew about fair use, but song lyrics and poems do not fall under fair use. When I do something, I always want to follow all the rules. No matter what!
Ok, I'll give up this bit of information on the book. One character is from this time, the other is from the 1950's...lol
ok, tell me if this would be better. The radio that had not bothered to work since the lake; begins to play a soft, almost haunting melody. Something I picture seeing Johnny Ace or Sam Cook singing. I turn my eyes towards the radio and back to him. He's quietly singing along with the words. "What is this song?" I ask in awe of his angelic voice. "Pledging my love.” he replies as he takes hold of my hand. Would something like that be ok?
I googled the issue and came up with lots of opinions from bloggers, etc. I don't know where you'd go to get the real deal. But the bloggers all agreed that it's fine to quote titles of songs, but very bad to quote lyrics. Here's a really good explanation of this theory, written by somebody named Aria617 who is designated as a 'winner' on the nanowritemo site: http://nanowrimo.org/forums/writing-101/threads/136390 She says: 1. Mention it by title and move on. While the lyrics of a song can be (and most often are) copyrighted, titles cannot (otherwise how could you have multiple books/songs sharing the same title?) You are more than free to write a scene which includes: “Joe turned on the radio and Tool’s ‘Lateralus’ came blasting over the speakers.” Or: “Sam groaned. This had to be the third time the club had played ‘Blurred Lines’ already tonight.” Mentioning the song titles and moving on allows you to attach a song you want to your writing while staying on the non-sue-able side of publishing. I don't know how accurate this is, but it certainly makes sense. And I've certainly seen it done.
ok, so now I am major confused.... This is what I have found from Iuniverse.com Publishing Law:Copyright, Permissions and Trademark. How many words can I quote from another work and still be within the limits of fair use? There is no legally established word limit for fair use. Also, if the text you plan to quote constitutes the "heart" of a work, or its most interesting part, your use may be considered a copyright infringement even if the number of words used is not substantial. As a general rule, you may quote or closely paraphrase (a) up to 250 words from a book, (b) 10 percent of the text of an article, letter or diary, and (c) not more than two lines from song lyrics or poetry. So now what do I do.... I thought Song Lyrics and Poems do not fall under fair use.
You read a lot about people sueing other people because of copyright infringement. Maybe that's because it's so confusing, and there is no hard and fast rule. Strange. I think what's needed ARE hard and fast rules, not 'general' ones. Myself, if I'd written a song and somebody quoted it in its entirety in a work of fiction, I'd be pleased as punch, as long as they attributed it to me. They're paying homage to the song, not trying to steal it. I mean the song is out there. Is it a violation of copyright to play the damn thing and listen to it? Then why should it be a violation to talk about it, which, essentially is what's happening in a novel about the song. Surely there's a difference between stealing song lyrics and passing them off as your own, and merely referring to them. It's weird to think otherwise, in my opinion. But sadly my opinion is never a majority one!
I so agree Jannert. Its just a jumbled mess. I wish it was just black and white, you can do this and not do that. But like you, no one ever asks me my opinion on it...lol
Some people are so touchy about their song that they don't even let song lyrics hosting sites display it. I wonder if they even have printed booklets. I would love a master list of songs where it's okay to borrow two lines from... Two lines is free advertising and might result in a few paid downloads of the song. Like FF.net has a short list of authors who don't allow fanfiction of their work. I can't remember who it was, but he stopped being offended and learned to love the free advertising.
You can include lyrics if the song is in the public domain (it's not protected under copyright). Songs that are older than a certain date (sometime in the 1920s if I remember correctly) are in the public domain. However, it's actually very hard to tell whether a song is in the public domain or not because the copyright can be renewed. Also, there are cases where the tune is in the public domain but the lyrics are not (the opposite can also be true). If you want my advice, just state the title and don't worry about including the lyrics. It's just too much of a hassle.
I always wonder why some singers mumble their lyrics. NOW I get it. They don't want anybody to steal them...
I found this, that might help us all Copyright Terms And The Public Domain In The United States http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm
moneica... if you write it as 'pledging my love...' then it's the lyric... if you write it as 'Pledging My Love' then it's the title... to be on the safe side, don't have her actually singing any words as dialog, just mention that she's singing that song and mention the title in " "...
