Why Do You Need This License Agreement?

First and foremost, understand that when you join Whisperings, you're joining a pianist community. This isn't just a radio broadcast. As a participant in Whisperings, not only will your music will be heard by tens of thousands of new listeners every month, but you'll have the opportunity to participate in the artist community, which has been a life-changing experience for many of our members.

As to the license, the reason we ask you to sign it is simple. We need it to protect ourselves. If we don't have it, the broadcast will cease to exist.

As you are probably aware, the recording industry has enacted strict legislation to control the streaming of copyrighted material on the Internet. One of the ways the industry ensures everyone is "legal" is by collecting license fees from webcasters who play copyrighted material on their broadcasts. Once paid, these license fees give a broadcaster legal permission to play any music they wish.

However, Whisperings Solo Piano Radio isn't your typical radio broadcast. Unlike commercial broadcasters that play tracks from major label artists, we only broadcast the original music of solo piano artists who choose to be included. Since Whisperings already has permission to broadcast this music direct from the artists (and the copyright holders), there's no need for us to pay license fees to third-party agencies like SoundExchange, BMI, and ASCAP to acquire this same permission. If we did have to pay those fees, we'd be forced to shut down the broadcast due to the enormous costs of that licensing, which would far exceed the revenue we receive from listener subscriptions. Whisperings is entirely, 100% supported by our listeners, and all the subscription revenue we receive goes toward covering the expense of running and maintaining the broadcast.

When you sign the license agreement, you are giving us permission, direct from you to us, to promote and play your original music royalty free on our broadcast. It's as simple as that.

And the benefit to you... in addition to your having the opportunity to participate in the community, we're giving your music exposure to tens of thousands of new listeners each and every month. That means we're bringing more fans to your music in an effort to increase music sales and name recognition for you.  

Finally, remember that I'm a pianist and composer, too. In signing this license agreement, I'm not asking you to do anything that I'm not already doing myself. Our little pianist community includes a number of pianists you probably already know - Brian Crain, Robin Spielberg, Wayne Gratz, Michele McLaughlin and over 300 others from all over the world. All see the value in this community and have signed this license agreement. Won't you join us?

If you do have any questions or concerns about the agreement, you can drop an email to solopianoradio@gmail.com. If you're ready to submit your music, return here for the license agreement and address to send your music to.

Thank you.

David Nevue, Program Director
Whisperings: Solo Piano Radio

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