Saturday, May 01, 2010

The cost of quoting song lyrics

Planning to quote some song lyrics in your next book? Beware, says Blake Morrison in The Guardian, it will cost you. He still has the invoices for quotes used in his recent novel South Of The River:
For one line of "Jumpin' Jack Flash": £500. For one line of Oasis's "Wonderwall": £535. For one line of "When I'm Sixty-four": £735. For two lines of "I Shot the Sheriff" (words and music by Bob Marley, though in my head it was the Eric Clapton version): £1,000. Plus several more, of which only George Michael's "Fastlove" came in under £200. Plus VAT. Total cost: £4,401.75. A typical advance for a literary novel by a first-time author would barely meet the cost.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:55 am

    So does 'Crazy' constitute a quote from a song?

    Duh!

    ReplyDelete

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