Unlike traditionally published authors, self-publishing authors (or indie authors, who self-publish their work and retain the rights to publish it), do not have the benefit of various publishing departments to guide them with regard to their covers, layout,  or marketing, nor do they have a legal team instruct them concerning what they can and cannot do with regard to copyright.

There are a number of legalities to consider. One of the most often unquestioned legalities is whether or not an author can use someone else’s song lyrics in their own book. Many authors do not consider this at all when writing, which is why it is important to have a good editor who knows about such things.

While using your own words to write a book is completely acceptable, using another person’s words in your book has some guidelines that need to be adhered to. One of these is the use of song lyrics. If the song is considered to be in the public domain, such as an old hymn, then you are quite in your right to quote it or part of it and to reference it at the end of the book. However, if the song is one that is still under copyright law, then you need to adhere to the protocols that govern the copyright law or be charged with hefty fines and royalties payable to the songwriter/company.

Songs are covered by copyright law. You have to pay a royalty to quote somebody’s song lyrics in your book—just as they would have to get your permission to use words from your book! In order to quote words directly from a song, one needs to obtain permission from the songwriter or their record company.

Very few indie/self-publishing authors are actually aware of this. So, before you start a chapter off with a line of your favourite worship or other song, here’s what you need to know:

The Copyright Laws of Lyrics

All creative works, including song lyrics, are covered under Copyright. No one has the right to use them in their own works without attributing them to the songwriter and compensating the said songwriter for their artistic work. It works in the same way as you would expect to be attributed and compensated for the use of portions of your book. Even posting a video on YouTube with a copyrighted song playing in the background needs to have a disclaimer attached to it.

There is something called the ‘fair use’ doctrine, which says you’re able to use copyrighted work if you’re criticising it or if you change it significantly enough for it to be distinguishable as something unique (such as when writing a parody of a popular song). However, direct use of lyrics would not be classified as ‘fair use’.

It also does not matter how many or how few lyrics you use; quoting ten (10) words from a song that consists of a hundred (100) words is 10% of the material being repurposed.

To put the shoe on the other foot, imagine if someone took 10% of one of your books and stuck it into their own without asking permission or giving you any compensation or share of the royalties. You would be a very unhappy author.

So the answer to the question “Can I quote this song in my book?” is generally “No” unless you are willing to fork out royalties to pay the songwriter/music company. In this case, you can reach out to the rights holder of the song you like (a record company) and request permission to quote those lyrics.

Your answer depends on the record company, the artist, and whether or not either of them responds to you. Should the record company grant permission, you will have to pay a significant upfront cost, and if your book goes on to become very successful, you will have to renegotiate and pay more as more books are printed.

Most traditionally published books will not have well-known lyrics included as they do become tricky to negotiate, particularly when one uses a number of lyrics because one’s character likes those songs. There are various Music Rights Organisations across the globe. In South Africa, we have SAMRO (The Southern African Music Rights Organisation), a copyright asset management society. It was established by the South African Copyright Act and aims to protect the intellectual property of music creators by licencing music users, collecting licence fees and distributing royalties to music creators.