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Okay, so I know songs are copyrighted, but I'm confused about something.
Are songs only copyrighted as a whole, or are individual lyrics from that song also copyrighted?
For example... if someone took a line out of a song and used it in their own song, could they get in trouble?
Or if someone posted a video on YouTube of them singing 5 seconds of a song... could someone claim copyright?
Because how do they truly know it's their song if it's only one line/sentence being shown?
Thank you! (link)
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Generally speaking, copyright comes into play when someone records music and then sells the recordings. You can sing covers live without fear of copyright issues, for instance.
A single line isn't going to be an issue, either. Peter Schilling's "Major Tom" borrowed very heavily from David Bowie's songs about an astronaut named Major Tom, and my understanding is that Bowie considered legal action but was advised by his lawyers that he couldn't win. Katy Perry sang "California Girls" and the Beach Boys couldn't sue her either. In order to be a copyright violation, the new song must be so similar to the original that one could actually mistake the new one for the old.
5 seconds of a song on YouTube isn't going to get you sued either. That falls under "Fair Use". It would be like quoting a single page out of a book.
As you say, "how do they truly know it's their song?" The fact is that they don't. So many songs have been recorded over time, I would imagine that it's just about impossible to write a new song where every line is original.
Bottom line is that no musician is going to get uptight over one line from their work being used again, even if it's very memorable. Most would be happy to see that they are inspiring other artists.
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Rating: 5
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Thank you so much.
This helped me understand so much better. =)
I hope you have a wonderful day!
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