Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Illinois

Re: use of song lyrics

I won't beat around the bush--YES! You most definately need to get permission from the music publisher (that's typically who owns licensing rights) to use song lyrics. If you are going to use snippets of the actual recordings, then you'll need to get an additional license (most likely a Master Use License) to use that as well.

People may try to convince you that it's a "fair use" or it's just free advertisement for the musicians/publishers/labels. Unfortunately, musicians/publishers/labels don't see it that way. TRUST ME, as nasty as records companies and music publishers are these days, they will find you and sue you for copyright infringement unless the proper licensing is done!