Question about sampling & copyright issues

[OneGrassRoot]

Honestly, people, I always Google and try to find answers before posting, but for subjects such as this, sometimes there's TOO much information and my brain is too overloaded to comprehend. B-)

What are the legal issues, if any, in the following scenario:

A business speaker dealing with conflict resolution has a "production" he gives for audiences. In order to convey messages in a fun way - yet also a way that stays with people - is to use snippets (no more than 15 seconds) of recognizable songs which pertain to whatever he's talking about.

Is there a potential copyright infringement there? It's not like a new song is being created and being resold. It's simply part of a production, yet I suppose it's similar to background music for a commercial.

If one only uses the tune - no lyrics or perhaps parodied lyrics? - and certainly not the original recording, does that protect from copyright infringement? Again, only using a portion of the song, no more than 15 seconds.

If anyone knows the answer to this or can direct me to a website which can answer this specific question, I'd be very grateful, as always.

Thanks!

[OneGrassRoot]

1. So, I just discovered "buyout" music libraries as I'm Googling

Maybe I'll stumble across famous songs NOT by the original artist as part of these buyout libraries. I'm posting this in case anyone knows about these buyout libraries as well.

Thanks again. :)

[leftofthedial]

2. a performance royalty is owed for any song used

performance royalties are paid by the venue, not the speaker

(ITRW the "royalty" is actually an annual fee paid to the PRO's)

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Thank you....:) n/t

[Another Bill C.]

3. It's a sticky area

but this may come under the "fair use" category. Details here.

[OneGrassRoot]

5. Thank you....:) n/t

[Raydawg1234]

6. legally, you are allowed to sample 4 measures of a song.