A Question of Copyright and Fair Use

[Rob_mDear]

Advice from anyone is appreciated.

I have a story that quotes the lyrics of a well known song as a character dances to that song. This works well, because it puts the music of the song into the reader's head. I could use my own lyrics, but then there's no known tune to go with it. It's harder for a reader to "visualize."

The thing is,

1) I don't want the copyright holder coming after me for using it in a story, particularly an erotic story.

2) I don't want anyone to google part of the lyrics, looking for the full lyrics, and instead pull up an erotic story.

I know how to ask that the lyrics be masked from google... but should I even be concerned?

I think that fair use makes it perfectly legal and safe to do this, but, the copyright holders could make trouble even if they're wrong about it. I'm sure they'll have better lawyers than I do (i.e. none).

Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?

 

[cloudy]

The guidelines according to Laurel are that you can use 50% or less of the song's lyrics in your story without running into trouble.

I've got a couple up where I've used song lyrics (I Alone, and my Superstitions chain story).

 

[sr71plt]

The 50% policy of the Web site doesn't mean squat if the owner of the lyrics finds that much of one of their songs in one of your stories here and decides they want to sue. The Web site doesn't determine if there will be a suit--the copyright owner does--or if they have a good case--case law does. Case law on lyrics and copyright indicates that if you use more than two lines of a copyrighted song or more that 10% of the total (whichever is the least number of words), a suit will be sustained.

And your surmise is correct. If they win the suit, they'll get more money because the lyrics were used in erotica than if they were used in a children's reading book.

Fair Use has nothing to do with any of this. The Fair Use doctrine is for nonprofit educational purposes ONLY. You aren't making money off your stories posted here, but the Web site is for-profit in the view of the law--and you and the Web site are married in copyright liability. There would be giggles throughout the courthouse at the suggestion that the use is for education.

The up side is that there's little chance the lyrics owners would find out about your story and even less of a chance that they'd sue (because it would be a chore for them, and they'd most likely figure neither you nor the Web site had enough money to make it worth their while to sue--check case law; almost no one ever sues, unless there's a big gain in either money for publicity in the offing).

However, if you put faith in a 50% policy here as protecting you, that's a false feeling of security. It's your risk.

 

[Stella_Omega]

You might be able to alter the words slightly-- enough to prevent them showing up in quotes.
Speaking strictly from aesthetic principles, I would probably skip most of the song lyrics you quoted anyway. I'd want to read the action. Song lyrics, generally speaking, are not very satisfying when read alone. My advice to most writers is to quote only a few lines-- not much more.

 

[Weird Harold]

This works well, because it puts the music of the song into the reader's head.

Actually, no it doesn't. At least it doesn't do it reliably.

I doubt that I'm the only person who primarily listens to instrumental music. If the song you're quoting isn't from earlier than 1985 or so when I quit listening to pop music radio stations, I'm going to be totally clueless about the song you're quoting.

Another point to consider is that Lit has an international audience, and songs that you think are universally recogniseable probably didn't get any exposure at all in Europe, Australia or Asia -- or in the US if you're using a European or Asian hit.

International hit songs are actually very, very, rare things, even in the modern world of instant international expsure through the internet.

 

[Rob_mDear]

Thanks, all. I got my answers.

As an aside, it was one of the top ten most successful songs in history, and was the title/theme song behind a major motion picture, so I was sure that most people would recognize it, and for those that didn't, I was no worse off than otherwise.

As far as quoting the lyrics extensively, no, I only had a line here and there, interspersed with the more important descriptions of the dancing, and reaction to the dancing. The lyrics were there just enough to invoke some color in the scene, almost like an adjective. I actually expected and wanted readers to simply scan the lines, not actually read them, because they were in no way relevant to the story (although they were poignant when taken in the context of events surrounding them... but that was a leap that was up to the reader to make, and not necessary to the story).

Anyway, based on what appear to be fairly knowledgeable answers here, and my own inclinations and trepidations, I've decided to replace the lyrics with "lyrics"of my own, and let the reader simply imagine some nameless, soundless tune behind them. That's what writing's really all about, anyway, tricking the reader into properly filling in the innumerable blanks.

Thanks all for your help.

 

[sr71plt]

Thanks, all. I got my answers.

As an aside, it was one of the top ten most successful songs in history, and was the title/theme song behind a major motion picture, so I was sure that most people would recognize it, and for those that didn't, I was no worse off than otherwise.

As far as quoting the lyrics extensively, no, I only had a line here and there, interspersed with the more important descriptions of the dancing, and reaction to the dancing. The lyrics were there just enough to invoke some color in the scene, almost like an adjective. I actually expected and wanted readers to simply scan the lines, not actually read them, because they were in no way relevant to the story (although they were poignant when taken in the context of events surrounding them... but that was a leap that was up to the reader to make, and not necessary to the story).

Anyway, based on what appear to be fairly knowledgeable answers here, and my own inclinations and trepidations, I've decided to replace the lyrics with "lyrics"of my own, and let the reader simply imagine some nameless, soundless tune behind them. That's what writing's really all about, anyway, tricking the reader into properly filling in the innumerable blanks.

Thanks all for your help.

In terms of copyright case practice, it's not two consecutive lines in a work, it's two lines worth of lyrics communalative in the work. So a line here and there doesn't negate anything.

But glad to hear you can creatively roll with the punches on this.