Song Lyrics

[iKwak]

Is song lyrics copyrighted?
Or can I use song lyrics on a website?

[mandkr67]

The lyrics to a song are just as protected as the music and the song itself.

You can risk a "limited amount" use or you can seek permission...

[DemonicPuffin]

In my experience,I've never had a problem with posting lyrics(and I've worked on several sites which it was pretty obvious we were displaying them) but we were using them for informative purposes,and giving extensive credit to the author(s),singer(s) and such....we never had any problems.It depends what your doing...and the band.....certain bands don't want their lyrics posted,others encourage it.

but YES they are absolutely copyrighted.....they're covered as intellectual property as with any written work.

[KC]

Keep in mind that there are two distinct copyrights associated with recorded music: one for the musical composition and the other for the recording. This means that a developer must obtain permission from the music publisher and the recording company.

Laws may vary from state to state and country to country so check your local government office for additional information. The site below offers a few helpful links for obtaining permission to use copyrighted music and lyrics.

http://www.governor.state.tx.us/divi...des/obtain.htm

Good luck.

Fwiw, there are a multitude of web sites that offer alternative production music for download without having to worry about copyright issues, and are very affordable.

[Mike Borozdin]

The copyrights to lyrics belong to their authors. But you can post them without any fear unless you charge fee for viewing lyrics, in this case you'll break the law.

[mandkr67]

You don't neccessarily have to be making money to be sued for infringement....no-one was making money "sharing" music files and thousands were sued!

[ComputerBob]

madrkr67 is absolutely correct. It is a violation of copyright laws to publish a copyrighted work without permission from the copyright owner, even if you're not making a penny from it.

And for those who say, "What about "fair use?," I challenge you to look up what legally constitutes "fair use," and see that it is meant as a way for people to critique others' copyrighted works by citing PARTS of that work -- it is not meant to be a loophole that allows anyone to publish anyone else's entire copyrighted works without their permission.

[tntcheats]

To sum all of this stuff up--if you make a site it's okay (especially if you just find a way to make it the fault of your site visitors ) but if you get caught, you're (simply put) screwed.