I need your help , I'm working now on Rock N' Roll lyrics book. andmu question is . Is it allowed to do this ( copyright ) ?? If not allowed please what can I do ?? Thanks in advance.
Are you reproducing lyrics for entire songs? That’ll be a problem. Even using small portions of the song lyrics can be a problem.
A law professor told me it is not allowed. There's multiple separate copyrights for songs: one for the lyrics, one for the music, one for recordings, and one for public performances. Different people can hold each one. These aren't waters you want to dive into without a copyright lawyer.
There is a copyright in the musical composition (music and lyrics) and in a specific sound recording of the work. Two separate copyrights. There could be multiple sound recordings of a given work. In the case of a book that includes lyrics, you’re going to infringe the copyright on the musical composition but not the sound recording.
If the words are not your own, you have to clearly state that the lyrics of the song arent yours. A lawyer told me that
Stating that does not avoid the need to get permission if what you're doing infringes copyright, however.
Keep in mind I'm talking about the U.S.: 1) you can get permission to use the lyrics; 2) you can try to cut back the amount used and work on how you're using them to try to bolster a Fair Use argument; 3) you can use them and hope the rights owners never find out. #1 is the safest. With #2, even if you can make a good Fair Use argument (which is hard to do with song lyrics) it'll cost you a lot of money to defend a lawsuit if the rights owners find out and decide to do something about it.
But I don't want to sell books , I just want to print just 3 copies one for me and the second and the third for a friend. Is it okay about that ??
Oh. Well, in that case I'd think about the likelihood of the rights owners ever even finding out about it, or caring if they did find out about it. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't worry a whole lot about it if that's all I was doing.
