can i change the words in a song without permission?

Over the years, there have been numerous debates about whether or not you can legally alter the words of a song without permission. Copyright laws generally provide protection for the creators of original works, although it can sometimes be difficult to determine what exactly needs to be changed in order to avoid copyright infringement.

When using lyrics from a pre-existing song, you need to obtain permission from the copyright holder before making any changes. This would usually include getting permission from both the lyrics and music writers - if they are different people or entities - and publishers in order to make sure that you are not breaking any laws.

However, even if you gain permission to change certain elements of a song, this doesn't necessarily mean that it is totally legal - for example, altering the lyrics so drastically that the resulting version does not qualify as a derivative work could still lead to copyright infringement. Therefore, any changes made should never result in a completely different song from the original composition.

In addition, even if you don't change many elements of a song and just want to create your own recording of it with modified lyrics or music, then this can still be viewed as copyright infringement if you do not have permission from all of the writers involved as well as their publishers.

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