Is quoting songs still a no go on here? I've realized that a character in my currently in-progress story quotes a snippet (like five words from the chorus) of a song that is appropriate to the story. I have already nerfed it to simply mentioning the existence of the song and its theme but the quote works better. There would be attribution in the author note and probably even in the dialogue.
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Quotations?
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Charming as fuck
Quote by seeker4
Is quoting songs still a no go on here? I've realized that a character in my currently in-progress story quotes a snippet (like five words from the chorus) of a song that is appropriate to the story. I have already nerfed it to simply mentioning the existence of the song and its theme but the quote works better. There would be attribution in the author note and probably even in the dialogue.
Sorry, but it's a no-go. Songs are so short that they're not covered under the fair use policy and basically everything but the title is copyrighted. To avoid the legal murkiness, we ask that no lyrics are used in stories at all. A mention of the title is fine.
Wouldn't you rather have a nice cup of tea?
Seems a bit over-cautious to me. Site policy is what it is, but quoting a couple of lines from a song isn't plagiarism, especially if the author acknowledges implicitly or explicitly that the lines aren't their own.
Judgment of fair use (in the US) includes four factors:
1) Purpose and character of the use
2) Nature of the copyrighted work
3) Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4) Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work
In the first, the use of a quotation is to allude to the original work, not to substitute for it. In the second, quoting a popular song that can be heard virtually anywhere is not as sensitive as sharing trade secrets or unpublished works. In the third, a couple of printed lines is relatively little in relation to a recorded piece of music. And fourth, the potential negative market impact of quoting a song in a story on an online erotic stories sight is negligible. If anything, it may actually promote sales by generating curiosity.
Anyway, the legal liability for quoting song lyrics in a story is minimal.
Judgment of fair use (in the US) includes four factors:
1) Purpose and character of the use
2) Nature of the copyrighted work
3) Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4) Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work
In the first, the use of a quotation is to allude to the original work, not to substitute for it. In the second, quoting a popular song that can be heard virtually anywhere is not as sensitive as sharing trade secrets or unpublished works. In the third, a couple of printed lines is relatively little in relation to a recorded piece of music. And fourth, the potential negative market impact of quoting a song in a story on an online erotic stories sight is negligible. If anything, it may actually promote sales by generating curiosity.
Anyway, the legal liability for quoting song lyrics in a story is minimal.
Don't believe everything that you read.
Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know
Seems a bit over-cautious to me. Site policy is what it is, but quoting a couple of lines from a song isn't plagiarism, especially if the author acknowledges implicitly or explicitly that the lines aren't their own.
Judgment of fair use (in the US) includes four factors:
1) Purpose and character of the use
2) Nature of the copyrighted work
3) Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4) Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work
In the first, the use of a quotation is to allude to the original work, not to substitute for it. In the second, quoting a popular song that can be heard virtually anywhere is not as sensitive as sharing trade secrets or unpublished works. In the third, a couple of printed lines is relatively little in relation to a recorded piece of music. And fourth, the potential negative market impact of quoting a song in a story on an online erotic stories sight is negligible. If anything, it may actually promote sales by generating curiosity.
Anyway, the legal liability for quoting song lyrics in a story is minimal.
I'm kind of with you, Just_A_Guy_You_Know but we've had these discussions on the site before so I'm not really expecting change. At this point, the story in question is close to submission with the vague allusion rather than the direct quote so even if the policy changes, it's too late for this one.
Charming as fuck
It's nothing to do with plagiarism, it's to do with copyright. Lyrics are generally copyrighted. To avoid any potential legal issues we just don't allow them. One quick Google into the murky world of fair use and what-ifs is enough to make anyone cautious 
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