Guide
Royalty-free, direct-licensed and original music for a dental office, explained
Royalty-free describes how a music license is paid for. On its own, it does not tell you which rights come with it.
Last reviewed October 11, 2026.
"Royalty-free" usually means you pay for a music license once, or by subscription, instead of paying a royalty each time a track is used. It describes how the license is paid for, not which rights it includes. Two royalty-free libraries quoted below say some or most of their tracks are affiliated with a performing rights organization (PRO) such as ASCAP, and that public performance fees can be owed on top of their license. For a dental office that wants to play music aloud, the label is a starting point; the license text is the answer. (The library and PRO pages quoted here as read on October 10 and 11, 2026.)
This guide is general information about US law and business music services. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your practice, talk to a lawyer.
This guide explains four terms a dental office will meet when choosing business music: royalty-free, direct licensing, production music libraries and original catalogs. We quote the libraries and PROs in their own words, with the date we read them. eleMusic wrote it, and we sell a background music subscription to dental practices, so our own license gets its own section near the end, under the same questions we suggest asking everyone else.
What does royalty-free music mean?
A royalty-free license swaps per-use fees for a single price or a subscription. Epidemic Sound, a music licensing company, describes royalty-free music as music you can use in content "without having to pay royalties to artists or rights holders every time it's played." PremiumBeat, a production music library, spells out what the price buys:
"Music purchased from the PremiumBeat production music library is royalty free. This means that after paying a one-time fee, you can use the music you've purchased as many times as you wish (unlimited needledrops) for as long as you like in accordance with the terms stated in the license agreement."
PremiumBeat Help Centre, "What is royalty free music?", updated September 2, 2025, read October 10, 2026
Three things follow from that definition:
- Royalty-free is not the same as free. You usually pay for the license: once, or for as long as you subscribe.
- The license still has terms. "In accordance with the terms stated in the license agreement" is part of the definition, and those terms decide where and how you may use the music.
- The label is about payment, not rights. It does not say whether you may play the music aloud to the public. That is a separate right, the public performance right, and the next section is about it.
Does royalty-free include public performance rights?
Not always, and some royalty-free libraries say so themselves. Some royalty-free licenses are written for productions such as videos, ads and films. Storyblocks, for example, says its licenses include "a synchronization license, which allows use of music in a visual medium, along with a master use license." Playing music aloud where the public can hear it is a different right, and in the US, PROs such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR license it for the songwriters and publishers they represent. Our guide to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR explains who they are.
Storyblocks, a stock library that calls its music royalty free, says its licenses cover distribution, "which does not include public performances," and puts it plainly:
"Any additional fees you'll need to pay for those use cases will go to the PRO, as public performance royalties are separate from what we cover under our royalty free licenses."
Storyblocks, "Understanding what PROs are in music licensing", published February 18, 2026, updated March 24, 2026, read October 10, 2026
It adds that each song's details show which PRO, if any, represents it. PremiumBeat gives a similar note for projects under its Premium and Business Licenses, which it lists as "broadcast TV/radio, VOD/OTT, industrial, film, etc.", and names who usually pays:
"Please note that the majority of our tracks are affiliated with Performing Rights Organizations (PROs), meaning public performance rights might be owed for certain project types. These fees are not usually paid for by creators (like ad agencies, brands, production companies, YouTubers, movie studios, etc.) but by the 'exhibitor' (like a broadcast network, a streaming platform, concert venue, shopping mall, etc.)."
PremiumBeat Help Centre, "What is royalty free music?", updated September 2, 2025, read October 10, 2026
Not every royalty-free library gives the same answer. TunePocket, a royalty-free library with a page aimed at medical and dental offices, says of the playlist on that page, as read on October 10, 2026: "The music in this playlist is not linked to any PRO." Three libraries use the same word and do not give the same answer on PROs, which is why the word alone cannot settle the question.
Owning a copy does not settle it either. ASCAP's licensing FAQ says that "the purchase of a record does not authorize its public performance."
What is direct licensing?
Direct licensing means getting permission to perform music straight from whoever owns the rights in it, instead of through a PRO's blanket license. The PROs describe it as an option in their own FAQs:
"Permission to perform music publicly must come from the copyright owner of the music directly or from its representative (such as ASCAP)."
ASCAP, Licensing FAQ, read October 10, 2026
"As an alternative to a blanket license, you can negotiate a separate license agreement directly with each copyright owner of each song you will play."
SESAC, Frequently Asked Questions, read October 10, 2026
You will also see the phrase in music providers' descriptions of their own catalogs. Epidemic Sound, in a post about licensing music for a business's content, explains its model this way:
"How? With a direct license. We exclusively own the rights to each of the 55,000+ tracks in our catalog, including public performance rights."
Epidemic Sound, "Why your business should go beyond royalty-free music", July 16, 2024, read October 10, 2026
That is how Epidemic Sound describes its own catalog. For any provider, including us, the license you sign is what sets out which uses, which places and which rights you get, in writing.
What is a production music library?
A production music library is a catalog of music made to be licensed to the people who make media. The Production Music Association, a trade group of these libraries, described the business to the US Copyright Office in 2014. Production music libraries, it wrote, "license that music on a 'blanket' or 'per use' basis," and of its member libraries:
"These libraries own the recording rights and publishing rights to the music they represent. This allows for 'one-stop' shopping by the user to obtain licenses for all rights ... needed for a recorded track, except for the public performance right ('Performance'), which is licensed predominantly through ASCAP or BMI."
Production Music Association, comments to the US Copyright Office music licensing study (Docket 2014-3), 2014, read October 10, 2026
The same comments say it is "common practice for our members to register their music with their composers' PROs." That was a trade group's description in 2014, and practice differs from library to library. PremiumBeat's 2025 note that "the majority of our tracks are affiliated" with PROs shows one library describing the same arrangement today. So a production music library may sell a royalty-free license, a blanket license or a per-use license, and its tracks may still be registered with a PRO.
What is an original catalog?
Some business music services supply music made for their own catalog instead of commercial recordings or a third-party library. The music may be commissioned from composers, recorded in-house or generated. "Original" tells you where the music came from. Like "royalty-free", it does not by itself tell you whether the tracks are registered with a PRO: that depends on who holds the rights and what they chose to do with them. Ask, and ask for the answer in writing.
How do you read a business music license?
Start with the grant, the sentence that says what you may do. Then read what it leaves out as closely as what it allows. The table shows what to look for, with wording from licenses and FAQs quoted on this page.
| Look for | Why it matters | Example wording |
|---|---|---|
| The use it allows | A license written for videos and other productions may say nothing about playing music aloud in an office. | Storyblocks: its licenses cover distribution, "which does not include public performances." |
| Public performance and PROs | Whether performance is part of the license, and whether the tracks are registered with a PRO, are two separate questions. | PremiumBeat: "public performance rights might be owed for certain project types." |
| Whose music it covers | A provider's license reaches the music that provider supplies, not the radio or anything else you play. | Global Music Rights, on background music services: "their Global Music Rights license extends only to the music they supply to establishments with no admission, membership or similar charge." |
| Where, and on how many devices | Licenses name places and limits, and providers count them differently: by location, zone or device. | eleMusic Terms 9.1: "within the physical premises of that Location, on no more devices at a time than its Device Allowance." |
| How long it lasts | Some licenses run indefinitely after one payment; others end with the subscription. | PremiumBeat: "for as long as you like." eleMusic Terms 9.5: the license "ends when the Practice Plan ends." |
| What is excluded | Exclusions can sit in a separate list from the grant, as they do in ours. | eleMusic Terms 9.2 excludes playing on "any telephone or messaging system, including music on hold, voicemail and interactive voice response (IVR)." |
The unit matters for price as well as for rights. Our guide What music for a dental office costs explains how locations, zones and devices add up.
What should you ask any music provider?
These questions work for a royalty-free library, a production music library, a background music service or us. Ask for each answer in writing, and keep it with your records.
What exactly may we do with the music?
Ask for the sentence that grants the right, and check that it names playing music in a business, not only use in videos or online content.
Does the license include public performance in the US?
If it does, ask where the license says so. If it does not, ask who licenses performance for these tracks.
Are any tracks registered with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR or another PRO?
Ask how you can tell for a given track, as Storyblocks shows in each song's details.
Who holds the rights in the music?
The provider, a library, publishers or the composers. A direct license comes from whoever holds the rights, so ask who that is.
Which places and how many devices does it cover?
Ask how the provider counts: by location, zone or device, and what it costs to add one more.
How long does it last, and what happens when we stop paying?
A one-time license and a subscription can end very differently, including what happens to any files you downloaded.
What is left out?
Ask specifically about music on hold, waiting room video, social media, events and other locations.
What will you send us if someone asks about our music?
Ask what records the provider keeps, what it will send, how quickly, and exactly what it promises, if anything.
Where does eleMusic fit?
eleMusic is an original catalog delivered by subscription. Original instrumental music, generated and mastered by eleMusic. No vocals, no ads, no commercial recordings. We do not call our music royalty-free. The term describes how a license is paid for, and it does not answer the PRO question this guide is about. Here are our answers to the questions above. The quoted wording comes from our own Terms of Service.
| Question | eleMusic's answer |
|---|---|
| What may we do with the music? | Section 9.1 grants the right "to play the Content through the Player, as ambient background audio, within the physical premises of that Location, on no more devices at a time than its Device Allowance." |
| Public performance and PROs? | Section 9.1 says of the right quoted above: "To the extent eleMusic or its licensors hold any intellectual property rights in the Content, this right includes a license under those rights for the same scope, and no more." eleMusic does not register its generated catalog with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR. Section 11.1 adds that eleMusic "does not license the Content through any PRO," and that nothing in the agreement or the certificate is a license from any PRO. |
| Who holds the rights in the music? | Every track is generated for eleMusic from our own station recipes, then checked and mastered by us before it reaches you. Section 10.2 says eleMusic "makes no representation that any Content is, or is not, protected by copyright or any other intellectual property right in any country, and the Agreement does not transfer ownership of any Content to you." How the music is made explains the process. |
| Which places and devices? | One plan per location, sized by devices playing at once: Practice covers up to 5 devices. A device is one stream: a tablet feeding the ceiling speakers in several rooms counts once. See pricing. |
| How long does it last? | Only while the location's plan is active. Section 9.5 says the license "ends when the Practice Plan ends." |
| What is left out? | Section 9.2 lists what the license does not include. Among other things, it excludes music on hold and phone systems, video and social media, events, and playing the music anywhere outside the location's premises. |
| What if someone asks about our music? | Every location with an active plan or trial gets an Original Catalog Certificate in its name: a public web page that anyone with its link can view. What the certificate covers sets out its limits, and our guide Got a letter from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR? explains what to do with a letter. |
eleMusic is PRO-free: it never registers its tracks with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR, so there is no performing rights fee for the music you play through eleMusic. Radio, TV, music on hold and any other music you play still need their own licenses. We cannot control or verify what others register, and we do not promise that no PRO or other person will contact you or make a claim. The certificate describes our catalog and your subscription; it does not determine your practice's legal obligations. The certificate is not a license from any performing rights organization and is not legal advice.
ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR are trademarks of their respective owners. eleMusic is not affiliated with or endorsed by any performing rights organization.
Questions to take to your own lawyer
This guide cannot tell you what your practice needs; your own lawyer can. If you talk to one, these questions are a reasonable place to start:
- Which of the music and audio we play counts as a public performance, and what permission does each source need?
- Does our music provider's license include public performance, and for which places, devices and uses?
- Do we use royalty-free tracks anywhere, for example in a waiting room video or on our website, whose PRO status we should check?
- What records should we keep of the music we play and the licenses behind it?
For the wider picture, read Do dental offices need a music license?
Common questions about royalty-free music
Is royalty-free music free?
Not necessarily. Royalty-free describes how a license is paid for, not what it costs. In the PremiumBeat definition quoted above, you use the music "after paying a one-time fee." What you avoid is a royalty each time a track is used.
Does a royalty-free license last forever?
Some are written that way. PremiumBeat's runs "for as long as you like" under its terms, and TunePocket describes a "lifetime commercial license." Others are tied to a subscription, so check what happens to your rights, and to any files, when you stop paying.
Is music with no PRO registration free to play anywhere?
Not necessarily. Whether a track is registered with a PRO is one question; the license or terms you get it under are another, and they set their own limits. Ask what they allow, where and for how long.
Is eleMusic's music royalty-free?
We do not describe it that way. eleMusic is a subscription: you may play the catalog through the eleMusic player at your location while its plan is active. eleMusic does not register its generated catalog with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR. We cannot control or verify what others register, and we do not promise that no PRO or other person will contact you or make a claim. Where does eleMusic fit? sets out what our license covers and what it leaves out.
Sources
- PremiumBeat Help Centre: What is royalty free music? (updated September 2, 2025), accessed October 10, 2026
- Epidemic Sound: Why your business should go beyond royalty-free music (July 16, 2024), accessed October 10, 2026
- Storyblocks: Understanding what PROs are in music licensing (updated March 24, 2026), accessed October 10, 2026
- TunePocket: Relaxing music for medical and dental offices, accessed October 10, 2026
- ASCAP: Licensing FAQ, accessed October 10, 2026
- SESAC: Frequently Asked Questions, accessed October 10, 2026
- Global Music Rights: FAQ, accessed October 10, 2026
- Production Music Association: comments to the US Copyright Office music licensing study (2014), accessed October 10, 2026
- eleMusic Terms of Service, Sections 9, 10 and 11 (version 2026-10-11), accessed October 11, 2026
Hear it in your own rooms.
Eight instrumental stations and one access code, on a tablet or laptop in each room, or cast to your TV. From $15 a month for one device; Practice covers up to 5 devices for $24.
New locations start with a 14-day trial. A card is required and nothing is due at checkout. A reminder goes to the billing email before the trial ends, and you can cancel in Manage billing or by emailing hello@elemusic.fm. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, the card is charged the plan price when it ends. See the Terms of Service and the Refund and Cancellation Policy.