I'm considering publishing a work that would include a small snippet of lyrics from popular songs. The extent would vary, but typically one or two lines. I'm not yet sure of the form it would be published, but most likely in print. It would be a commercial endeavor (hopefully, eventually).
Respecting the copyrights of the owner of the work, I would want to ensure there is appropriate payment for the use of the lyric. It seems a daunting, nearly impossible task, however, to contact each copyright holder (or would it be the publisher?) and negotiate a fee for the use of one line of the lyric from a song. Not to mention keeping track of all the different songs and copyright holders.
This can't be the first time someone has faced this issue. So is there an organization or commercial enterprise who handles this? And assuming the licensing/use fee would be based on the number of copies of the work (a variable that I cannot know at this point - somewhere between 1 and 10 million) then that complicates the matter.
Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions? (Other than "Are you CRAZY?!!)

