Last reviewed by Robert Prime — May 2026
Quick Answer: Almost never without a licence — not even one line, not even with attribution. Song titles and references to a song existing are free; reproducing lyric text is not. To licence, contact the music publisher (not PRS for Music) directly; expect £200–£2,000+ per line for major-label work. Most authors write around it: name the song, describe the feeling, don't quote.
Want the full reasoning, examples, and edge cases? Keep reading — TL;DR below for the slightly longer summary, then the full guide.
Table of Contents
- The short answer
- What you CAN do for free
- What requires a licence
- How to actually get a lyric licence
- How much it costs
- The "fair dealing" question
- Public domain songs
- Workarounds that actually work
- What happens if you use lyrics without permission
- Frequently asked questions
- Final thoughts
The short answer
You cannot quote song lyrics in your book without permission from the copyright holder. Not one line. Not the chorus. Not with attribution. Not even if you really love the song.
This catches almost every first-time UK self-published author by surprise. The instinct is "it's only four words, no one will notice." Music publishers — especially the big four (Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, Warner Chappell, BMG) — run automated scans against new book releases and actively pursue unlicensed use. They make significant revenue from it.
The good news: there's a lot you can do without a licence. Song titles, descriptions, names of bands, the feeling a song evokes, even your character humming a tune — all fine. What you can't do is reproduce the actual lyric text.
The rest of this guide walks you through the line.
What you CAN do for free
These are all licence-free, no permission needed, do them with confidence:
1. Mention a song by title. "She put on Bohemian Rhapsody and stared out the window." Song titles aren't protected by copyright (they're considered too short to qualify as creative works). Use as many as you like.
2. Mention a band, artist, or album. "His Spotify was stuck on a Taylor Swift playlist." Names aren't copyrightable. Album titles are also free to mention.
3. Describe the music without quoting it. "The bass line crawled up his spine." "The chorus sounded like a thing she'd once known how to feel." This is your craft — and it's almost always better writing than lifting four lines of someone else's lyric anyway.
4. Reference a song's existence in the world. "It was the year Hey Jude came out." "She was old enough to remember when Don't Look Back in Anger meant something." Facts about songs are not copyrighted.
5. Quote a song that's in the public domain. Anything published before roughly 1928 in the UK has likely lapsed (full rules below). Hymns, folk songs, traditional ballads, Christmas carols pre-1928, much of Gilbert and Sullivan, Shakespeare song fragments — all free.
6. Use your own original lyrics. If a character in your novel writes a song, and the song is original to you, the lyrics are yours. Quote freely.
7. Quote your own song (if you wrote it). If you happen to be a songwriter quoting yourself, you're the rights-holder. Do as you please.
What requires a licence
Pretty much everything else:
1. Any direct quotation of lyrics from a copyrighted song. Even one line. Even the chorus. Even the title of a song that's used as a refrain.
2. Paraphrased lyrics that are recognisable. "She said this love was on fire, that it was new on fire" — that's close enough to a recognisable Taylor Swift lyric to count as a derivative use.
3. Translated lyrics. Translating a French chanson into English doesn't escape the original copyright — translation creates a new copyright on top of the existing one.
4. Lyrics used as chapter epigraphs. A favourite practice in literary fiction — and one of the easiest ways to get a takedown notice. Even one line under a chapter heading needs a licence.
5. Lyrics on your cover, in your blurb, or in marketing copy. Same rule. Don't put "to lose you is to lose myself" on the back of your novel without paying for it.
6. Lyrics reprinted in non-fiction analysis. Music criticism gets slightly more latitude under fair dealing (covered below) but you're still in licensing territory for anything more than passing reference.
How to actually get a lyric licence
If you've decided you really need to quote a specific lyric, here's the process. It's tedious. Most UK authors abandon it once they see the price.
Step 1 — Find the music publisher
The music publisher (not the record label) owns the lyric copyright. To find them:
- Search the song on the PRS for Music online repertoire database: search.prsformusic.com (free)
- Or check the song's Wikipedia page — the publishing credits are usually listed
- For older songs, the publisher may have changed hands multiple times — follow the chain
The PRS database will tell you the writer(s) and publisher(s). Both have copyright interests. The publisher is who you contact for the licence.
Step 2 — Contact the publisher directly
Find the publisher's "permissions" or "synchronisation" department. The big four:
- Sony Music Publishing UK — permissions@sonymusicpub.com
- Universal Music Publishing UK — permissions@umusicpub.com
- Warner Chappell Music UK — permissions@warnerchappell.com
- BMG Rights Management UK — printrights@bmg.com
Smaller publishers — search their website for "permissions" or "synchronisation contact."
Step 3 — Send a formal request
Email them with:
- Song title and writer(s)
- The exact lyric lines you want to use (copy-paste them verbatim)
- The context (chapter epigraph, dialogue, descriptive passage, etc.)
- Book details: title, author, print run estimate, format (paperback/Kindle/audio), territories (UK only? worldwide?)
- Your contact details
Don't paraphrase the lyric in your request — they want to see exactly what you're using.
Step 4 — Wait
Big publishers take 4-12 weeks to respond. Sometimes longer. They might decline outright (especially for currently-touring artists who control their own image carefully). They might require additional contracts (warranties about not bringing the song into disrepute, etc.).
Step 5 — Negotiate the fee, sign the licence
Once they quote you, you can sometimes negotiate — particularly for indie self-published runs where the publisher recognises the limited commercial impact. Get the licence in writing. Keep it filed permanently.
Note on MCPS-PRS
MCPS-PRS Alliance (now PRS for Music) does NOT licence print uses. This trips up most authors. PRS handles performance rights (radio play, live performance, streaming, public performance). MCPS handles mechanical rights (recording onto CDs, downloads, etc.). Synchronisation rights (using lyrics in print, film, video games, etc.) are handled directly by the music publisher.
If a music publisher tells you to "contact PRS," push back politely — they're confused. For print, it's them.
How much it costs
Lyric licensing fees vary wildly. Rough UK-market figures based on what indie authors have reported recently:
| Scenario | Likely cost |
|---|---|
| One line of a 1960s-70s rock standard (Beatles, Stones, Bowie) | £400-£2,000+ |
| One line of contemporary pop (Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, etc.) | £500-£2,500+ |
| One line of a Britpop classic (Oasis, Blur, Pulp) | £200-£1,500 |
| Chorus or multiple lines from a major-label song | £1,500-£10,000+ |
| One line from an indie artist (smaller publisher) | £50-£500 |
| One line from a singer-songwriter who owns their own publishing | £0-£300 (sometimes free for indie books, just ask nicely) |
| Hymn or traditional folk (if still in copyright) | £20-£200 |
The price is per LINE per BOOK. If you want to quote a Bowie lyric in chapters 1, 4, and 9 — that's three licences (or one combined licence at a multiple).
Translation rights, audiobook rights, and "world ex-UK" rights are all usually quoted separately. If you want to publish in the US, you'll need a separate licence from the US publisher (often the same parent company, separate contract).
For most indie self-published books selling under 500 copies in their lifetime, the licence cost is significantly more than the book will earn. This is the maths that puts most authors off.
A scenario that comes up regularly with first-time novelists: the manuscript is finished, the chapter epigraphs are picked, and three or four of them are favourite lines from songs the author has loved for decades. The licensing quotes — when they come back from major-label publishers — often exceed the entire lifetime royalty estimate for the book. The realistic outcome in most of these cases isn't paying the licence; it's rewriting the epigraphs as quotes from invented characters, or skipping them entirely. The book usually reads better for it.
The "fair dealing" question
UK copyright law has a doctrine called fair dealing (Section 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) which allows limited use of copyrighted material without a licence — for purposes of criticism, review, news reporting, quotation, or parody. It's narrower than the US "fair use" doctrine.
Could fair dealing cover quoting song lyrics in your novel? Almost certainly not. Fair dealing has been tested in court and the bars are:
- The use must be for a specific listed purpose (criticism, review, etc.). Quoting a song lyric to set a mood in your novel is not criticism, review, or news reporting.
- The use must be fair — assessed on the amount used, the purpose, the effect on the original work's market, and whether the use is necessary.
- The source must be sufficiently acknowledged.
If you're writing a non-fiction book that is genuinely about that song (a chapter analysing the lyrics of Imagine for a music history book, for example), fair dealing is much more likely to apply. If you're writing a romance novel and you want to use a lyric as a chapter epigraph, it does not.
If you're seriously considering arguing fair dealing, get advice from a copyright solicitor. The Society of Authors offers free legal-query support to its members (£152/year, refundable in the value of even one solicitor's hour). It's worth it.
For more on fair dealing's broader application to authors, see our fair dealing guide for UK authors.
Public domain songs
Music falls into the public domain in the UK based on the lifespan of the song's authors:
- 70 years after the death of the last surviving author (composer + lyricist, separately)
- Songs published anonymously, pseudonymously, or as "traditional" — 70 years from first publication
What this means in practice for songs you might want to quote in 2026:
| Song / type | Status in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Pre-1854 publications by named authors who died before 1955 | Public domain |
| Most traditional folk songs (collected and published pre-1956) | Public domain |
| Hymns published pre-1956, or whose authors died pre-1955 | Public domain (but check) |
| Christmas carols (pre-20th century) | Mostly public domain |
| Gilbert and Sullivan operettas (W.S. Gilbert died 1911, Sullivan 1900) | Public domain |
| Most Tin Pan Alley standards (1900-1930) | Mostly entering public domain in the next decade |
| Beatles, Stones, Dylan, etc. | NOT public domain — still 70 years out from the surviving authors' deaths |
Important UK quirk: even for pre-1928 published music, if a particular recording or arrangement is more recent, that specific version is still in copyright. The 1620 hymn "Lord Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace" is public domain. The 1979 musical setting of it by Sebastian Temple is not.
For traditional folk songs, similar warning — the song itself may be public domain but a specific 1970s folk-revival arrangement is its own new copyright.
Where to find verified public domain lyrics: the International Music Score Library Project (imslp.org) lists works that have entered public domain status, country by country. Mutopia Project is similar. Both are free.
Workarounds that actually work
Most experienced authors learn to write around the lyric question. Some of the most effective workarounds:
1. Describe the song instead of quoting it. Instead of writing the lyric of "Wonderwall," write what the character feels hearing it. This is almost always better prose anyway. You can name the song — "She heard the opening chords of Wonderwall and..."
2. Invent original lyrics. If your character is a singer-songwriter, you can write entirely original snippets of song. Your copyright, your use.
3. Use song titles as chapter titles. Song titles are not protected by copyright. "Chapter 4: Bohemian Rhapsody" is free.
4. Reference the act of listening, not the content. "The song made her cry" is free. "The song's chorus made her cry" is free. "[Direct quote of chorus] — and she cried" is licensable.
5. Use traditional / public domain. Choose a hymn, a folk song, or a 19th-century music-hall number if you genuinely need a quoted lyric. The Times They Are a-Changin' is still in copyright; Auld Lang Syne is not.
6. Commission an original song from a friend or unsigned songwriter. A single song commissioned from an unsigned writer might cost £50-£200 and gives you full rights. You can use it in your book, in your audio, in your marketing — and you'll be supporting a working musician.
7. Buy a music-cleared library track. Companies like Audio Network, Musicbed, and Epidemic Sound licence cleared music for use in books and other media. Cheaper than major-label licences for similar-feeling tracks.
What happens if you use lyrics without permission
A handful of scenarios, ranked by likelihood:
1. Nothing. For very small self-published runs that never get noticed, the practical risk is low. Many UK self-published books include unlicensed lyrics and never get caught.
2. A polite cease-and-desist email. The publisher's permissions team finds your book through Amazon scrape, sends you a letter giving you 14-30 days to remove the lyric, no further action if you comply. You re-upload a corrected version to KDP and move on.
3. A more aggressive cease-and-desist with a damages claim. The same letter, but with a demand for retrospective licensing fees plus damages — typically the licence fee multiplied by 3-5x as a penalty. Most authors settle quickly because legal fees to fight cost more than the demand.
4. Amazon takedown. The publisher files a DMCA-equivalent claim with KDP. Your book is removed from sale until you remove the lyric and re-upload. KDP doesn't usually warn you in advance — your sales just stop.
5. Civil lawsuit. Rare for small self-published authors. Happens with mid-list and traditionally published titles that have visible commercial reach. Damages can run into tens of thousands of pounds plus legal fees.
The risk is asymmetric: low probability, high downside. The cost of a single line of major-label lyric is rarely worth the risk for a typical indie novel earning £200-£2,000 lifetime.
Frequently asked questions
Can I quote a few words from a song title?
Song titles aren't copyrighted, so yes — but be aware that if the title is also a recurring lyric phrase (very common in pop songs), quoting it as a sentence-internal phrase can blur the line. "She drove him crazy" is fine. "She felt like crazy in love" italicised as a clear title reference is fine. "She was crazy in love, oh oh oh" starts feeling like lyric quotation.
What about quoting song lyrics in a non-fiction music criticism book?
This is where fair dealing for criticism and review (Section 30 CDPA 1988) most plausibly applies. You can usually quote brief lyrics — typically up to about 10-15 words per song — to analyse them, provided you genuinely analyse them and sufficiently acknowledge the source. Don't rely on this without a lawyer's input for anything serious.
Are nursery rhymes safe to quote?
Mostly yes — most traditional nursery rhymes are old enough to be in the public domain. But specific arrangements and modern variants may not be. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with the 1806 Jane Taylor lyrics is fine; Raffi's 1980s version is not.
Are religious hymns safe to quote?
The traditional hymn text (Charles Wesley, John Newton, etc., all pre-1900) is usually public domain. Modern worship songs (Hillsong, Bethel Music, etc.) are absolutely not. Always check the original author's date of death — if pre-1955, you're safe on the lyric.
Can I use a song lyric if I credit the artist?
Crediting the artist doesn't replace licensing — it's basically the difference between paraphrasing someone's work (which still needs permission for substantial use) and stealing it. Credit is necessary if you do have a licence, but credit alone is not a licence.
What if the song is from a movie soundtrack and I'm writing about the movie?
You're still in licensing territory for the lyric. The film itself, the title, and the plot are all free to discuss; the lyrics are separately copyrighted.
Can I quote song lyrics in a book of poetry?
Same rule. Even more sensitive in fact — your poem incorporating someone else's lyric line creates an ambiguous derivative work that publishers don't like.
How does this work for audiobook editions?
Audiobook editions need their own licence. The print licence does NOT cover audio. If you're using an unlicensed lyric in print, you have a problem for paperback and Kindle and audiobook separately.
What about traditional folk songs collected by a 20th-century folklorist?
The underlying song may be ancient, but the published version with annotations may have new copyright. The safest approach: check Mutopia Project or the EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society) collection — they note copyright status for each piece.
Final thoughts
The answer to "can I quote song lyrics in my book?" is almost always "no, but you don't actually need to." The strongest writing rarely depends on a lyric quotation — it depends on evoking the feeling the lyric evokes. That's craft, and it's free.
If you're set on a specific quote, contact the music publisher directly, expect to pay, and budget the time (months, not weeks). For everything else, name the song, name the artist, describe the mood, and move on.
When you've got your manuscript locked, run a free KDP Readiness Score — it doesn't check lyrics (we'd need a lawyer for that), but it'll catch the formatting, metadata, and copyright-page issues that most authors trip on alongside the lyric question.
For the broader copyright picture — what protects you, what doesn't, and what to put on your book's copyright page — see our UK copyright hub and copyright page template.
— Robert publishing.co.uk
About the author
Robert Prime has helped 500+ UK self-published authors navigate the KDP submission process and the rights-clearance pitfalls that surround it — including the song-lyric question that catches first-time novelists. He co-runs publishing.co.uk and the LoveReading network. Email hello@publishing.co.uk for specific permission-related questions.
