: Re: Proper attribution of copyrighted lyrics in a story If I put several lines of a copyrighted song in my text, and mention the band name, how can I be certain that my attribution is sufficient

@Barnes643

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Fair Use is not relevant for this, as it is fiction - it is intended to allow academic or other non-fiction to reference existing work for the purpose of comment and critique.

One way around this in a fictional work would be to have the character sing along with some of the words, some of them wrongly heard, so that it is clear what the song is, but you are not using the lyrics fully. As long as you are careful, this should be OK, although, of course, IANAL. Crediting them as well would be a positive. An example may be:

Johnny turned on the radio. As he organised his room, his favorite song of the moment came on, so he bounced around the room singing "...nothing lasts forever ..." as he tidied his underwear drawer; "... in the cold September rain ..." as he put his boots away; "I need some ties, on my own..." as he sorted the wardrobe; "... you're not the only one" as he organised his sock drawer. He broke off for the air guitar riff, of course, because that's the law.

(OK, maybe not, but this sort of idea).

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