To get appropriate licensing for use of a song, find out which music publishers’ organization handles the song. The big three—ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC—have their own search engines where you can look up songs in their repertories. Once you find out which organization handles the song, approach them for licensing.
ASCAP: http://www.ascap.com/ace/
BMI: http://www.bmi.com/search
SESAC: http://www.sesac.com/repertory/terms.aspx
Sometimes the song credits will include the publisher’s name with one of these organization’s name next to it; in that case, you can spare yourself the research and approach that organization directly. (Note that different songs may have different publishers even if they’re on the same album!)
I think fair use would apply only if the app were limited to the United States, only a small portion of the song were used, and if it were used in the context of either criticism or an educational point (i.e., the fragment of the song is used to illustrates such a point). The cost (or lack of cost) of the app does not factor into whether it’s fair use or not.