Opinion on referencing other people's work in fanfictions?

[RaccoonButler]

I wasn't sure if this should go in the help forum or the creativity forum so I just put it here, feel free to movie it. Anyway,

I know that in fanfictions about UTAU and Vocaloid, people commonly reference well-known songs or actually Center the story around the plot of a song in the manner of an AU or something.

But I also notice that sometimes instead of the original song, a cover done by a user with a certain vocaloid/utau is referenced (ex. Let's say Len and Rin are talking about the song a Rolling Girl or whatever and they argue over whose version is better, or there's a singing contest and they say to imagine they're singing a certain cover) and sometimes YouTube links are even put up for like, imagery or story context

I see that usually this is done by people who don't actually make covers/songs, and that they don't ask the person or tell them they used their song in their story and now that I actually make stuff I see there's a sense of ownership to the covers as creative property, so

In your opinion, should someone be allowed to reference a cover by someone else without permission, or should they not because it's in a story? and if they do, should the person who made the cover be told that it was referenced in their story? Should this only apply to lesser known users, or should it be okay to reference any cover because it's just the mere mention of them?


tldr: is it okay to mention other people's covers in fanfictions

 

[Kiyoteru]

I think it's fine, it's not like you're claiming to own them. And I say that you should tell the cover makers, if only because they might be interested in reading it!

 

[kimchi-tan]

There should be no problem if you're just linking to the covers. Personally, I would appreciate the advertisement! XD

 

[Satari]

I personally think it's fine, as long they mention some thing in the author's notes. They just need to mention that they don't own the cover, and maybe mention who made it too.