Music in story

by June Bennion
25th March 2014

is it legal to mention a song and artist in a story, or do you need permission?

Replies

Thank you all. I only mentioned 2 artists names and and their song titles, no lyrics.Just said that the songs were playing.

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June
Bennion
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June Bennion
27/03/2014

I've always understood that song titles weren't subject to copyright, and in fact I often use song titles as my story titles (Alone Again Or, Wasted Years, Boys Don't Cry to name a few). It's quoting lyrics where you need to get permission, though as Louise has said, it depends who's going to see it.

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Jacqueline
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Jacqueline Saville
26/03/2014

Paul - perhaps he didn't seek permission??? Sometimes artists (or their managing companies) don't ask for money; they're happy with an acknowledgment instead. And sometimes they ask for a percentage of royalties..... Apparently, though, it can be very tricky to get hold of an artist/management company to ask permission in the first place.

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Louise
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Louise Taylor
26/03/2014