[LAU] [slightly OT] Musical citation (what is allowed?)

[Jostein Chr. Andersen]

onsdagen den 30 november 2011 13.47.21 skrev  Julien Claassen:
> Hello everyone!
>    I'd like to cite from a relatively recent work (1970), which of course is
> still copyrighted. So can I do it per se? I'd just like to cite a main
> phrase for a bit (2-4 bars) I suspect. any hints on that would be very much
> appreciated.

Hard to answer, and it depends of the context. If just one beat from that 
phrase is significant for the melody, then you might run into trouble. On the 
other hand, you can (if I understands everything right) often cite several 
seconds of a song without paying royalties when for example showing or 
reviewing song.

Here is links to some (hopefully blind friendly) documents that might help 
you:

  http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-royalties.htm/printable
  http://www.alankorn.com/articles/sampling.html
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

Hope that helps
Jostein