Guide
Can a dental office play Spotify?
Spotify's own words about business use, quoted from four of its pages and dated, with no conclusions drawn for your practice.
Last reviewed October 11, 2026.
Spotify addresses business use in its own help article, "Spotify for public or commercial use", which on October 10, 2026 read: "Spotify is only for personal, non-commercial use. This means you can’t broadcast or play Spotify publicly from a business, such as bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons, dance studios, radio stations, etc." Its US Terms of Use, last updated September 4, 2026, grant "permission to make personal, non-commercial use of the Spotify Service and the Content". Personal streaming accounts are licensed for personal, non-commercial use, which is why business music services exist.
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 quotes Spotify's own documents and stops there: it does not interpret them for your practice. eleMusic wrote it, and eleMusic sells background music to dental practices, so we say where we fit in a separate section near the end, after the quotes.
Which Spotify documents talk about business use?
Four Spotify pages speak to it. We read each one on October 10, 2026. Only the Terms of Use show a date of their own, so we date the other three by the day we read them.
| Spotify document | Date shown | The words that speak to use |
|---|---|---|
| Help article: Spotify for public or commercial use | None | "Spotify is only for personal, non-commercial use." |
| Terms of Use, Section 3 | Last updated September 4, 2026 | "permission to make personal, non-commercial use of the Spotify Service and the Content" |
| Paid Subscription Terms, Section 2 | None | "for their own personal use (and for their household members, where applicable)" |
| User Guidelines | None | Not permitted: "performing, framing, linking to or displaying to the public, broadcasting, or making available to the public" |
What does Spotify's help article say about playing it in a business?
The article is three sentences long. Here it is in full:
"As laid out in our Terms and Conditions, Spotify is only for personal, non-commercial use. This means you can’t broadcast or play Spotify publicly from a business, such as bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons, dance studios, radio stations, etc. To play in a commercial environment, check out our friends at Soundtrack."
Spotify Support, "Spotify for public or commercial use" (US), no date shown, read October 10, 2026
The words "Terms and Conditions" link to Spotify's End User Agreement page, and the US version of that page is titled Spotify Terms of Use. The list of businesses ends with "etc." and names no dental, medical or other offices; the article lists no exceptions. Its last sentence links to soundtrack.io. We quote that sentence because it is part of Spotify's article; eleMusic is not affiliated with Spotify or Soundtrack.
What do Spotify's Terms of Use say?
The US Terms of Use say they are "between you and Spotify USA Inc." Section 3, "Your Use of the Spotify Service", sets out the permission a listener receives:
"Subject to your compliance with these Terms (including any other applicable terms and conditions), we grant to you limited, non-exclusive, revocable permission to make personal, non-commercial use of the Spotify Service and the Content (collectively, "Access")."
Spotify Terms of Use (US), Section 3, "Access to the Spotify Service", last updated September 4, 2026, read October 10, 2026
The same section also says:
"You agree that you will not redistribute, sell or transfer the Spotify Service or the Content."
Spotify Terms of Use (US), Section 3, "Access to the Spotify Service", last updated September 4, 2026, read October 10, 2026
"You agree to abide by the Spotify User Guidelines and the Platform Rules and not to use the Spotify Service, the Content, or any part thereof in any manner not expressly permitted by the Agreements."
Spotify Terms of Use (US), Section 3, "Spotify's proprietary rights", last updated September 4, 2026, read October 10, 2026
Does Spotify Premium allow business use?
Spotify's Paid Subscription Terms cover Premium, and they describe every kind of Premium plan with the words "personal use". Section 2 says that buyers "may access that Paid Subscription for their own personal use (and for their household members, where applicable)". The sections for each kind of plan read:
| Kind of plan | Spotify's words |
|---|---|
| Single-user, such as Premium Individual (Section 2.1) | "entitle the paying account holder to access such Paid Subscription for their own personal use." |
| Household, such as Premium Duo and Premium Family (Section 2.2) | Access "for their own and each Sub-Account Holder's personal use." Section 2.2.1 adds that the account holders "must be family members residing at the same address." |
| Student, such as Premium Student (Section 2.3) | "entitle the paying account holder to access such Paid Subscription for their own personal use." |
Section 1 of the same document says: "By purchasing a Paid Subscription, you acknowledge and agree to these Paid Subscription Terms, including the Terms of Use and User Guidelines."
What do Spotify's User Guidelines say?
Section 3 of the Terms of Use says that "you must comply with the Spotify User Guidelines and the Platform Rules". The User Guidelines open their main list with "The following is not permitted for any reason whatsoever in relation to the Services and the material or content made available through the Services, or any part thereof". One item on that list reads:
copying, reproducing, redistributing, "ripping," recording, transferring, performing, framing, linking to or displaying to the public, broadcasting, or making available to the public, or any other use which is not expressly permitted under the Agreements or applicable law, or which otherwise infringes intellectual property rights;
Spotify User Guidelines (US), list of uses not permitted, no date shown, read October 10, 2026
Do Spotify's terms and help article mention dental offices, or ASCAP and BMI?
No. None of the four Spotify pages quoted here mentions dental, medical or health care offices. None of them mentions ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR or performing rights organizations either, so they do not say whether a license from one of those organizations changes anything about using Spotify. If your practice already holds such a license and wants to know what it means for a streaming app, that is a question for your attorney.
Can a dental office play Spotify legally?
That question has two parts, and this guide covers only the first. The first is the agreement between a listener and Spotify, which is what every quote above comes from. The second is US copyright law on public performance, which our guide Do dental offices need a music license? explains in the statute's own words. How either one applies to a particular practice depends on facts we do not know, so we draw no conclusion here. An attorney can.
Is Spotify different from other streaming apps?
Not in this respect. Personal streaming accounts are licensed for personal, non-commercial use, which is why business music services exist. Our guide Personal streaming and satellite plans in a dental office covers the consumer terms of Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube, SiriusXM and Amazon Music. Radio has its own guide: Can you play the radio in a dental office?
Is there a Spotify for business? What businesses use instead
Spotify's help article, "Spotify for public or commercial use", names no Spotify plan for businesses. Its last sentence reads: "To play in a commercial environment, check out our friends at Soundtrack." The article shows no date; we read it on October 10, 2026. eleMusic is not affiliated with Spotify or Soundtrack.
A business music service is a subscription sold to businesses for playing music at their premises. Soundtrack is one. There are others, eleMusic among them, and they differ in what they include. Whichever you consider, read its terms with the same care you would give Spotify's. This table pairs what Spotify's documents say with the question to ask of any business service's terms:
| Point | What Spotify's documents say | What to look for in a business service's terms |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | "personal, non-commercial use" | Does the permission name a business, and is it the practice as a whole or each location? |
| Where it may play | "you can’t broadcast or play Spotify publicly from a business" | Does it allow playback inside your premises, and does it say where it may not play? |
| How many | Premium plans for one person or for "family members residing at the same address" | Is the price per location, per zone or per device, and how many can play at the same time? |
| Public performance licenses | Not mentioned | Does it say which public performance licenses, if any, are included in the price, and what documentation you receive? |
| Other uses | Not permitted: "broadcasting, or making available to the public" | What does it exclude, such as music on hold, video or other locations? |
Prices and terms change, so check each service's own pages on the day you decide. Our comparisons of dental office music services quote each vendor's own pages with the date we read them.
Where does eleMusic fit?
eleMusic is a business music service, so here is what our own Terms of Service say on the same points. Section 3.2: "Practice Plans are sold only to businesses, for use at their business premises". Section 9.1 grants the practice, while its plan or trial is active and it complies with the Agreement, "a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right, revocable only as these Terms provide" 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." On public performance licenses, Section 11.1 says eleMusic "does not license the Content through any PRO" (a performing rights organization, such as ASCAP or BMI) and that "Nothing in the Agreement, the Service or your Certificate is a license from any PRO". Section 9.2 lists what the license does not include, among them music on hold, video and use at other locations. Read Section 9 and Section 11.1 in full.
Original instrumental music, generated and mastered by eleMusic. No vocals, no ads, no commercial recordings. Plans are priced per location by how many devices play at once, from $15 a month for 1 device, and Practice covers up to 5 devices for $24 a month. A device is one stream: a tablet feeding the ceiling speakers in several rooms counts once. See pricing or how it works.
Every location with an active plan or trial gets an Original Catalog Certificate in its name. What the certificate covers, and what it does not.
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.
What should we ask our attorney?
- Does the way our practice plays music from any personal streaming account fit within that service's terms, as written on the day we checked?
- Is music played in our waiting room, front desk or treatment rooms a public performance under US copyright law, and which licenses, if any, does our practice need for it?
- If we already hold a license from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR, what does it cover, and does it change anything about the terms of a streaming app?
- For each source of music or audio we play, including TVs, radios and the phone hold line, what should we keep on file?
- If a performing rights organization writes to us, how should we answer? Our guide Got a letter from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR? lists what to gather first.
Sources
- Spotify Support: Spotify for public or commercial use (US), accessed October 10, 2026
- Spotify Terms of Use (US), last updated September 4, 2026, accessed October 10, 2026
- Spotify Paid Subscription Terms (US), accessed October 10, 2026
- Spotify User Guidelines (US), accessed October 10, 2026
- eleMusic Terms of Service, Sections 3.2, 9.1, 9.2 and 11.1 (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.