Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Song quote for an 'in memoriam'

Ask the newspaper. They will know this stuff backwards and forwards. If you put the lyrics into a program to hand out at a memorial service or other event, you're good. If you put the lyrics (we...

posted 5y ago by Cyn‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-20T00:40:37Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41999
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:49:16Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41999
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:49:16Z (almost 5 years ago)
 **Ask the newspaper. They will know this stuff backwards and forwards.**

If you put the lyrics into a program to hand out at a memorial service or other event, you're good.

If you put the lyrics (well credited) on your personal blog, and you're only quoting a small percentage, you're almost certainly fine. Given the context, it's unlikely that anyone will hassle you or do more than ask you to remove them (and even that's unlikely).

Publishing in print (or in a commercial online location) is a whole other can of worms. While the standards aren't legally stricter here, you're more likely to come to the attention of people who care.

There is no perfect formula for what's allowed and not allowed. Your memorial statement may not even qualify as Fair Use, but given the context and non-commercial nature, you're maybe okay there.

**[Writer's Digest](http://www.mbbp.com/news/writers-guide-to-fair-use) has many suggestions for navigating this.**

Fair Use is:

> ...For purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching …, scholarship, or research...

The main issue I see is how much of the work you're quoting:

> Quote or closely paraphrase as little as possible to make your point: under 10% is best; above 20% is high risk (though a recent case allowed that, where mainly facts were copied).

Unless you are able to get permission directly from the copyright holder of the song, asking the newspaper is truly your best bet. They have dealt with this before. They know what needs permission and what doesn't. They know how to get permission if needed. And they will recommend editing to acceptable levels of quotation if that is required.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-06T19:30:21Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 2