Can I Use Lyrics in My Novel?
We’ve all experienced that moment, watching a movie or a TV show, and the music swells, perfectly encapsulating the moment. It captures the heartbreak, the tension, the humor, and makes the scene that much more impactful.
It’s understandable you’d want to do the same in your writing, using the lyrics to prompt the reader into feeling how you intend them to. So you add a few lines from your favorite song, then think nothing of it. Or you wonder if you need to cite it, as you would in an essay. That may get you thinking about copyright … and if you can even use those lyrics if you intend to publish.
If you’re here for the short answer, here it is: No.
But, like anything else, there are nuances and exceptions. Let’s explore them.
Copyright Concerns
The main reason why you should not outright use lyrics in your story is because those lyrics are very likely subject to copyright. Someone wrote those words, and so they own them. Just as you own the words in your novel, and just as if someone took sentences or whole paragraphs of your work and republished them, word-for-word, would be considered stealing.
That said, the length for how long those lyrics are under copyright varies—and can depend on the country in which the copyright was obtained. (There are many resources to help you determine if the lyrics you want to use are under copyright, but PD Info is a great place to start.) When the copyright of a work runs out, it becomes part of the public domain. Works in the public domain are exactly that—public—and so anyone can take them and create whatever they please with that material. It’s why we have so very many Sherlock adaptations, and why books like Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies are not considered in violation of copyright. Heard of the new Winnie-the-Pooh horror film? This is possible because Winnie-the-Pooh was recently (in 2023) added to the public domain.
Now, what about “fair use”? That’s a murkier area, so let’s break down what that term means.
What is Fair Use?
This term is applied to situations where obtaining permission from the copyright holder to reproduce their work is not seen as necessary. A common example is a teacher copying a few pages from a workbook and then using those in a lesson. The copyright holder has presumably already been compensated by the publication of the workbook, and the educator is not using them in such a way that they will gain a profit. However, if they were to package these and sell them as My Favourite Worksheets, they would be in violation of copyright—even if they sold only to in-school colleagues!
Therefore, you should be very careful and consider how you intend to use any copyrighted material. To help you determine fair use, there are four general factors you can apply:
The purpose of the work. Will you profit off the end product that reproduces another’s work in some way? Or, like in the example above, is it being used strictly for educational purposes? The latter could be considered fair use, but the former is not.
The nature of the work. Is the copyrighted material you’re using mostly factual? Such as statistics, or historical facts? You’re likely okay. But if that material contains any of the author’s interpretations or writings, or any other artistic elements (including graphs and tables!), then you would need permission.
The amount being reproduced. In terms of fair use, less is more! Because the more you use someone else’s work, the more it’s considered plagiarism—especially if it’s so vital that the work would otherwise suffer if the copyrighted material was removed. Use only what you need, and even then use as little as possible.
The effect on the copyrighted work. This one is broad, but if you’re using the work to devalue it in some way, it’s definitely not fair use.
When it comes, then, to using lyrics in your written work, it’s likely not going to fall under fair use because you are already disregarding the first factor—if you intend to publish the piece, you’ll be profiting off work in which the copyrighted material appears uncredited.
But you can’t simply cite them either, as you’re still making that profit, and this is not an unpublished essay or a social media post. Rather, you have to ask permission.
Publishing and Permissions
If you’re thinking you may have seen, know you’ve seen, lyrics in published work before, it’s because the copyright holder gave them permission to do so. (I sincerely hope!) If traditionally published, the publisher will do the work of finding out who this is and what the process of applying for permission entails … if they feel it’s vital to the work. Publishers do have a budget and obtaining permissions can be expensive, so they may request you cut them anyway.
For self-publishing authors, this process is all on you. You are responsible for finding the contact information of the copyright owner and then applying for permission. They can be anyone: the vocalist, the songwriter, the record company, an estate, or even an individual. All will have a different process, a different response time, and a different price. So, if you are willing to wait until their answer arrives, you still have to ask yourself if you’re willing to invest hundreds, potentially thousands, of dollars simply to include those few lines.
I know it may still be tempting to include just one—because how likely is it that Beyoncé is going to see it, right? You’re welcome to try, and maybe nothing will happen, but if it does get out (perhaps it is a bestseller, or maybe some program scrapes together a report for, say, the record company—I don’t know if that’s possible, but these days who does!), then you could be in some trouble. Consequences include paying a fine and possibly even destroying any unsold work that contains the lyrics. Talk about a lot of money and time wasted.
How to Write Around Lyrics
I can’t end this post without giving a few tips on to how to still include music, and imply its effects, in your writing.
Simply state the song title. Those aren’t under copyright! You can write “Maria and Danielle danced around the room to ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,’ using hairbrushes as microphones” and not be in violation of any laws.
Focus on audio elements. What I mean by this is including descriptors of the music itself if it would add to the moment at hand. Do the drums swell or violins crash in that pivotal moment the main character has their heart broken? Does the music seem to match something in the character’s world? For example: “Jeremy always thought of Michelle when the drums sounded in ‘In the Air Tonight,’ and hearing it now, so unexpectedly, made his stomach drop.”
Center the emotions. This is the most important because what’s important is not the lyrics themselves but rather the emotions they invoke. What moves you to tears may not a reader, so those few lines may just fall flat, which stinks if you relied on them to give emotion to the scene. Instead, focus on the sensations your character feels when they hear those words, or why they turned on that particular song in that particular moment. For example: “Hearing Selena croon about dreaming of her lover always brought a strange, sad comfort to Katie, and she smiled even as a tear slipped down her cheek.”
So, I guess that’s the long version of the answer: It’s sometimes okay to quote lyrics, and always okay with permission, but in general they are best avoided and not worth the hassle!
I hope you’ve found this valuable, and if you have any questions please leave them below. Thanks as always for reading, and don’t forget to keep creating!
(Cover Image by Michael Maasen from UnSplash)