Lyric t-shirts to go on sale in British supermarkets

Fancy t-shirts with slogans such as “The boys are back in town” or “Born to be wild”? Well, there’s good news and not-so-good news. British retailer Asda has just unveiled a major range of t-shirts under the George label that feature song titles administered by Universal. The idea (commendable) is that the writers benefit from the proceeds of uses made of their lyrics (which is the exception rather than the rule – certainly on the Internet). In a move which I also find quite cool, they are also offering downloads of the relevant tracks to people that buy the t-shirts.

So what’s not to like about it? I still have a nagging doubt that anyone can stop me making “The boys are back in town” t-shirts, as song titles cannot be copyrighted.

See also A-lyric t-shirts