Who are Nancy & The Meerkats?

Nancy & The Meerkats are a super cool band that love to make music!

They also love to help people learn all about copyright (with the help of their manager – Big Joe).

Watch this video where Nancy & Big Joe talk about the rules of sharing things on the internet…

You should now know a little bit more about what you’re allowed to share on the internet.

What should you think about when you post something online?

The main thing to remember when posting anything on the internet – that could be a comment, picture, video or anything – is that it can be very difficult to remove something from the internet. That means you need to think long and hard before you post anything as it might be up there forever!

What can’t you post online?

You can’t post anything that belongs to somebody else.

For example, you can’t copy somebody else’s song and upload it without their permission.

What if somebody copies my song and uploads it to the internet?

If you hold the copyright – which you do on your own creations – then you can contact the person who has uploaded it or the website it’s uploaded to and ask them to take it down.

What if you’ve made a funny version of somebody else’s song? Can you upload that?

That would be called a parody.

The rules are slightly different with parodies, you can upload them as long as they do not damage the original or copy too much from the original song.

Activity: Pretend you are in a popular band. Now take what you’ve just learned to write a list of the pros and cons of using the internet to promote your band.

If you get stuck, here are some things for you to consider about the internet:

• Enables you to reach people all over the world with the same message
• Is free to use
• Not everything on social media is true (fake news, spreading rumours)
• Content exists forever
• Ideas could be stolen or misused
• People can copy your music and you wouldn’t even know
• Cyber bullying is a real issue
• You can easily find people who share your interests
• The consequences of a misunderstanding or mistake is potentially huge
• Easy to use
• It is difficult to prove who you are/or an idea shared is yours

How did you get on?

Hopefully you had loads of ideas as to why the internet can be both good and bad to help promote your band.

Whatever points you came up with, hopefully you understand that there’s a lot to consider when posting things on the internet. So whenever you think about uploading something to the internet, you need to think long and hard about it before you do.

Click here to see mission 5 all about recording a show!