Arbitary rejection

[Dinsmore]

I recently had a story in which I used the lyrics of two popular songs and included full and detailed credit to the performers/songwriters---rejected. The story was rejected as follows:

Dear Writer,

Thank you for your submission to Literotica. We appreciate the time and effort you've taken to write a story and submit it to our site. However, we've found that we cannot post your submission in its current form. The checklist below may help you in re-examining your manuscript.


Out of respect for copyrights, please quote less than 50% of the copyrighted song included in the story.

Please feel free to re-submit the story after a Volunteer Editor has examined it, or after you've made revisions. You can find a list of Volunteer Editors here.

Please consult our Writer's Resources section and make sure you read our submission guidelines:

If you have any questions on these, please let us know.


Thanks for your time, and look forward to reading you again!

Laurel & Manu
Literotica.Com
The song lyrics are integral to the story so obviously I am disapointed.

I can find no reference to any 50% rule either in the Literotica submission gidelines or on the Internet. Am I missing something?

Both of my editors feel that this was one of my best stories to date. Changing the story doesn't seem to be an option; it won't be the same story if I change it to meet this 50% rule.

I am uncertain as to how to proceed other than investigating other venues for future work.

I certainly need to take some time off and reflect; it's just a matter of principle.

 

[minsue]

Considering how vigilantly Literotica protects the authors here from copywright infringement, it doesn't surprise me that they would try to keep it down to a minimum on their own site as well.

Any of the rules here may seem arbitrary on a case by case basis, but I for one trust that they are there for a reason for the good of the site as a whole. Literotica is provided to all of us as a free service. If you were paying a membership fee, you would have more moral standing to object.

I'm sorry using only some of the lyrics from these songs would cause your story to not make as much sense. If the lyrics are that important to you, I can only suggest contacting Laurel by PM and pleading your case or finding another site to provide this service for you.

Good luck either way!

 

[Guest]

I don't believe Laurel or Manu can give you permission to quote someone else's published work, be it song lyrics or another written piece.

Wouldn't you have to receive permission from the author or composer?

Here's a link to The Writer E-zine that discusses that topic.

http://www.writermag.com/WRT/CS/forums/68274/ShowPost.aspx


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The Writer » PREMIUM forums: General (open to subscribers of The Writer magazine) » Ethics and writing
Ethics and writing
Started by Teslawriter at 01-24-2006 6:35 PM. Topic has 1 replies.

Plagerism Re: Song Lyrics in Story

Hi all:

I've read a number of Steven King's novels, where he begins a chapter with a verse or two from some very popular rock songs. I've always assumed that he either got permission to do this because he's famous, or he paid for the right, because he's (now) rich, or both. In all cases, I believe, Mr. King did credit the songs' authors.

Are we allowed to quote song lyrics in a story, as long as we attribute them to their author, even if we didn't ask permission?

Is there a character-limit or other quantity limit?

How should the attribution be handled:
a) immediately, in a parenthetical note,
b) in a footnote or endnote, or
c) is it okay to mention, in the text introducing the quote, who the author is?

On a related issue: if radio stations have to pay royalties to bands, or to the bands' record publishers (?), how come bar bands, playing cover songs, all across America most weekend nights, don't have to pay royalties?

Thanks in advance.

Peter

01-27-2006, 9:30 AM
Blackdog

Joined on 08-21-2005
Posts 81

Re: Plagerism Re: Song Lyrics in Story

This question about song lyrics comes up often. While I have no idea about bands playing songs in bars, i do know that you are running into dangerous territory quoting popular songs in your writing. You do need to get permission and usually purchase the rights, which can be very expensive not to mention time consuming. Furthermore, if you are an unknown, it is doubtful anyone will even give your request the time of day.

I'm not a reader of Stephen King, however, with a writer of his popularity song writers may just appreciate the advertising. Also, he has plenty of people to do the deal working, while he focuses on his writing. For the average Joe/Josephine, it just ain't worth the effort.

I did have a story I wrote around a song line before I had learned about all this. I re-worked it with some dum-de-dums and misunderstood lines––it happens all the time, but kept just enough so that the very popular Musak tune was identifiable,and I managed to get it published.

Nannette Croce
Senior Editor– Prose
The Rose and Thorn Literary Ezine
www.theroseandthornezine.com

www.homepage.mac.com/nannettecroce

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The Writer » PREMIUM forums: General (open to subscribers of The Writer magazine) » Ethics and writing Forum Jump:
Copyright © 2005 Kalmbach Publishing Co.

 

[Guest]

This site, Motivate Us, is requesting interesting or sayings or stories.

http://www.motivateus.com/form.htm

They are very specific with NO SONG LYRICS.


SUBMISSION FORM

NOTES FOR SUBMITTING:
If your quote/story is selected for publication you will receive a special 1 month gift membership to the Motivating Moments on-line archive, as our way of saying thank you. This opportunity gives you a chance to review an amazing collection of over 10,000 quotations and 800 stories to encourage and inspire you.

As of May 1, 2006 more than 4,650 visitors, who have had something published on Motivating Moments, have received a free one-month membership to read our archived area.

TO SUBMIT A QUOTATION :

* You may submit one quote at a time, since I rotate and try to include as many people as possible. Please scroll down the page to the form.

* If your quote is selected, you will be notified by email.

* NO SONG LYRICS, PLEASE

TO SUBMIT A STORY OR POEM :

* You may submit more than one story/poem at a time through email, in Microsoft Word format.

* If you are the Author, please include the year you wrote
your piece, your full name and email address.

* If the story/poem you are sending in is copywritten by someone other than you, we need their permission. We will not contact them, so you will have to.

* If your story/poem is selected, you will be notified by email, waiting time for publication is usually 3-4 months.

* Email to submit@motivateus.com when you are ready. Please include "Story Submission" or "Poem Submission" in the subject line.

PLEASE NOTE:

Original Authors Maintain Their Own Copyright
In order to serve you better, please do not send quotes to our email address. It will be sent back, asking you to please submit through the on-line form. We appreciate everyone for their continued help, support and interest in providing a place on the net where motivated individuals world-wide can share their favorite positve sayings /poems/ stories with others.

By submitting to motivateus.com, you are giving us permission to reprint your submission on the motivateus.com website and any other method (print or electronic format) without compensation, although we may charge a fee.

I warrant that my submission does not violate any copyright laws.

All fields in RED in the "I would like to submit the following" section are required, along with the "Author Information".

* If you forget to fill in a required field for information, you will receive an error message when you try to submit the form.

* Please read the message, then hit your back button to complete the missing fields on the form.

 

[minsue]

I don't believe Laurel or Manu can give you permission to quote someone else's published work, be it song lyrics or another written piece.

Excellent point.

 

[Guest]

And one more, that is specific that giving credit to the composer is not the same as having permission.

http://www.lulu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12054&start=10&sid=829d942309015ff335d98d33195c6484


Information on copyright issues concerning the use of quotes


Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject: Song Lyrics & Titles Reply with quote
I was very concerned about mentioning song lyrics, artists, and song titles in my book, but I thought that if I gave credit to the musician who created the song, then it would be okay.

Does that sound correct?
Back to top

Elmore Hammes



Joined: 24 Nov 2003
Posts: 781

PostPosted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Giving credit is NOT the same as having permission. From my own reading, publishers are particularly strict about lyrics. Any book quoting lines from poems, other novels or songs will have a listing, usually in the front, detailing their use by permission.

I would strongly recommend getting written permission from the owner of the lyrics prior to using them.

 

[Dinsmore]

Thank You All for the quick response!

The song lyrics things seems to be a murky issue but I've received some good web references and I can certainly see the problems. It's not easy to find the, "definitive word".

If I choose to resubmit the story, I'll follow the 50% rule since is more definitive than anything else I can find. If I can't live with it from an "artistic" perspective I just won't resubmit it.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

The song lyrics things seems to be a murky issue but I've received some good web references and I can certainly see the problems. It's not easy to find the, "definitive word".

If I choose to resubmit the story, I'll follow the 50% rule since is more definitive than anything else I can find. If I can't live with it from an "artistic" perspective I just won't resubmit it.

Thanks!

Good luck!

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I had a story rejected for that reason and had to pare the song down...

my guess is that while it is actually a copyright infringement, they're walking the "fair use" line with the 50% rule as long as the song is credited.

 

[Dinsmore]

I'm Probably over reacting...

I went back and reviewed the story. 'Don't want to get anyone in trouble including me!

I slashed the song lyrics---more like 75%-80% than 50%. It doesn't seem that bad. I'll nap on it and read it over again in a few hours to see if I can live with it.

Thanks again!