Rock Zombie is an unkempt zombie graveyard of pop culture references and nods to ’90s culture. They are bursting through the pages like reanimated hands clawing towards the sky, but much like a teenager in a classic zombie horror, I have to be very careful where I tread.
Copyright laws are slathering ghouls just waiting to sneak up and devour an unsuspecting author who hasn’t looked over their shoulder.
Okay, that’s enough of the belaboured metaphor… the first draft of my silly little comedy/horror was littered with direct song lyrics, movie quotes, and famous lines from television shows, but that is very much a Donny Don’t.
The Simpson’s Season 5 Episode 8 – Boy-Scoutz ‘n the Hood
Funny, I can make direct references here, but absolutely NOT in a novel. In fact, I could get in all kinds of trouble. So, the book that exists now is a far different beast to the one I first wrote. There are absolutely no direct quotes of copyrighted lyrics in Rock Zombie, though there are references and nods… and the occasional sly wink. Song titles are okay – thank God, as every chapter of this little novel is the title of a well-known track from the era – but quoting song lyrics is not on. There are grey areas of course. Words like ‘satire’, ‘parody’, and ‘fair use’ get bandied around but I have to be super careful even there. Some bits and bobs are in the public domain but I still have to be very careful.
Editing has been a bitch.
Although, it has been quite fun steering my way around these copyright issues while maintaining the tone of the story. In order to help with that I fully eased in to sarcasm… and footnotes. There’s a chapter called ‘Rockefeller Skank’ after the famous Fat Boy Slim track. It’s a song that used to get belted out in nightclubs towards the end of the decade (for all I know, it still does). Hands were raised to the sweat-soaked ceiling and everyone would scream, “Right about now, the funk soul brother!” over and over again. There’s a scene in Rock Zombie where this happens, but in order to keep it kosher, I had my narrator say…
Hands were raised and everyone joined in the song’s catchy lyrics and still got them wrong*
“Right about then. The small punk mother!“
*not least due to copyright laws
The vibe is the same, the rhythm is the same, but the words are different. Sure, anyone who knows the song will know what I mean, but I haven’t directly quoted the lyrics. Believe me, I wish I could source permission for every song and release a version that contains them all, but it just isn’t possible. And look, I know my silly little novel is in no way a threat to copyright; it won’t draw any attention away from the original work (if anything, it might draw some small notice towards it) but as an indie author I just can’t take the risk.
So, if you’re reading this book and you come across something that makes you go, “Oh, that sounds familiar, I wonder if he meant…”
I probably did.
Probably.