What is the rule regarding use of song lyrics in a story? In a book I've just completed, I have lyrics from a couple popular groups referenced in the text (which full credit to the musical groups, of course).

However, this still strikes me as a copyrite infringement. Is this correct? Is there some guidline on how many lines from a given song I could use or the context I would be able to use them in under fair use? Should I seek permission from the musicians (hard if I don't know how to contct them)?

Of course, any musician can make a song based on your book without fear. (You shouldn't be upset about this either. It's free promotion.)

http://www.neilgaiman.com/archive/2001_02_01_archive.asp

Regards,

In the end, she opted to use what she wanted in quotes; i.e., dialogue. So there's an option for you. Use the references as part of dialogue.

The main character of the story had lost everything in his life, hence the author wanting to use, in some way, the whole idea of "freedom being just another word for nothing left to lose."

The book got published, the words (and their very critical meaning in terms of story line) got into the book.

And the hero in the book? He named his boat (which played a huge role in the story) "The Bobby Magee."

Music and smell are very powerful to teh senses and have a tendency to stir up old memories, so I was going to use a U2 song as a tool to do this - the lyrics fit the storyline very well. I suppose I could just make up a group and a song, but this one just seemed for viable since it was a real song.