I’ve written about this once before but I thought it might be worth repeating: beware of quoting song lyrics in your writing unless you have permission from the song publisher.This came up in an interview Thriller writer Joseph Finder did with bookreporter.com:
I wanted Alexa Marcus, the kidnapped girl [in his newest book, Buried Secrets], to communicate a clue in a way that her abductors wouldn't notice. So I found Alter Bridge's song "Buried Alive" and decided that was the one. I contacted their manager and told them what I was doing, and they thought it was cool. Unfortunately, their publisher wanted to hit me with a ridiculous fee for the use of the lyrics written by a guy who wanted me to be able to use them for free! So I had to pare them down to fit within the legal definition of "fair use." I think it's ridiculous the way music publishers want to keep novelists from quoting music lyrics --- as if quoting a few lines, or even a whole stanza, will somehow cut into their revenues.
How crazy is that? A big mention in a best-selling novel can only help a band to increase their visibility and sales, yet the music publisher wants to charge so much that it’s easier to cut down the reference or make up your own song! Anyway, be careful because if you do use a more extensive use of a song lyric and they come after you it can be a costly move.
