Tisha MorrisFounder & Principal Attorney, Legacy Arts Law PC · 🎬 Entertainment Attorney | Protecting & Empowering Filmmakers, Authors, Artists & Creators | Founder of Legacy Arts Law® | Legal Clarity for Creatives

Using Song Lyrics in Your Book #publishingtips #authortube #publishingadvice #entertainmentattorney

24 Jul 2024 · 1 min

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In this short video, author and entertainment attorney Tisha Morris advises writers on the legal pitfalls of using song lyrics in their books. She explains that unlike quoting a book, song lyrics require permission from the song’s publisher, which involves research to identify the rights holder and obtaining a license. Because of this extra hurdle, she recommends avoiding lyrics entirely for authors seeking traditional publishing deals, as publishers may reject manuscripts that would require complex clearance. For self‑publishers, the responsibility to secure permissions falls on the author, making it a costly and time‑consuming process unless the book will have very limited sales. Morris notes that using a song title is generally permissible without permission. She concludes with a call to subscribe and invites viewers to suggest future topics.

Chapters

Hey TikTok, this is Tisha Morris, and let's start 2022 off by talking about song lyrics in your book. When to include them? Um, really never. Okay, um, seriously, you have to get the copyright to song lyrics. It's a lot harder than it is just for a quote from a book or something else that you can cite. Song lyrics, you have to get permission from the publisher of the song, so you have to do research to see who published the song. Now, if you're going for a traditional publishing deal I advise not to include song lyrics because a publisher very well may not even take your book altogether because they know the hoops they're going to have to jump through. If you're self-publishing, you're going to have to do the hoops yourself. Unless you don't plan on selling a lot of books, then why would you even do that? So you can use a song title in your book, and that's okay, but not the lyrics without getting permission. All right, subscribe for more tips and let me know what you want to know about this year.