Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New Jersey

You cannot use the music of a popular artist, even in the background, without obtaining a license covering the usage without running a substantial risk of getting sued for copyright infringement. Music license rights holders are pretty rabid about enforcing their rights, so don't play cute with this if you want to actually make money from your book.

Contact the music rights holder to see about the license; the usual clearinghouses are BMI (www.bmi.com), ASCAP (www.ascap.com) and the Harry Fox Agency (www.harryfox.com). Between them, they hold the licensing rights to 98% of the popular music out there. The rights holders know their lists; if you contact each of them asking if they represent the music of PopularArtist, they'll tell you yes or no.

If none of the music clearinghouses holds the rights, then you must contact PopularArtist directly to negotiate the license for the use of the music.

Good luck!

THIS POST CONTAINS GENERAL INFORMATION AND IS INTENDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE, NOR DOES IT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. FOR LEGAL ADVICE ON YOUR PARTICULAR MATTER, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.