How the music is made

Is eleMusic's music made with AI?

Yes. We say so in Section 6.1 of our Terms of Service, under the heading "Generated with AI, mastered by eleMusic":

"The Content is original audio generated and mastered by eleMusic. We create it with generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, including models provided by third parties and open-source models that we run on cloud infrastructure. ... eleMusic selects, checks and masters the audio before it enters the catalog. No human composer or performer writes or records the Content, and we do not describe it as human-made."

eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 6.1, version 2026-10-11, effective October 11, 2026

In plain words: a computer model makes the sound of every piano, guitar, string section and pad you hear on our stations. Nobody sat at a piano. Our work is everything around the model: writing what each station should sound like, deciding which tracks to keep, finishing the audio, and checking it before it plays in your rooms.

What is a station recipe?

A station recipe is the written description every track on a station starts from. It names the instruments or textures, a handful of styles, a tempo range, the keys, the length of a track and closing rules such as instrumental only. Our Copyright Policy puts it this way:

"We describe what we want in plain musical terms, such as the instruments, the tempo, the mood and the room the music is for."

eleMusic Copyright Policy, Section 2.1, version 2026-10-03

Take Calm. We keep the recipe itself private, but the station's description in the player sums it up: Slow, simple, hopeful melodies on felt piano, electric piano and warm strings, with no beat. As of October 11, 2026, the prompts behind Calm's tracks asked for tempos from 50 to 70 beats per minute and always a major key, most often G major, D major, C major. The median track lasts 2 min 55 s. Every station has its own recipe: the one for Light Jazz asks for an easy swing or a soft bossa lilt, and the one for Ambient asks for no melody at all.

Recipes never point at real musicians. The same policy says: "We do not use artist names in our prompts, and we do not ask any model to imitate a real performer." It adds that our music generation pipeline is designed to reject imitation phrases such as "in the style of" and "sounds like".

How does a track get from a recipe to your rooms?

1. An idea and a title

   An AI model drafts a short musical idea and a title for each new track, inside the station's recipe.

2. The audio is generated

   A music model turns the idea into audio. We ask for more than we keep: in the October 2026 catalog expansion we completed by October 11, fewer than half of our generation requests became published tracks.

3. We master it

   Our finishing chain trims, balances and levels the track, then adds fades (next section).

4. Automated checks

   For every track added in our October 2026 expansion, the finished file was measured, and an AI model reviewed it by listening, twice. A track that failed any check was held back.

5. A record, then the station

   The track goes into its station's rotation with a provenance record written before it goes live.

The provenance record is described in our Copyright Policy: "We keep a provenance record for each music track we publish, written before the track goes live. It records details such as the model, the recipe and prompt-template versions, a hash of the prompt (not the prompt itself) and the creation date."

The previews on our pages are separate pieces of about 30 seconds, made with a generative model built for short clips from the same station recipes and mastered with the same chain; the tracks a room plays are longer pieces.

What does mastering do to each track?

Mastering is the finishing pass that makes raw audio ready to play all day on the speakers practices actually use. Ours includes these four steps, in this order:

• Trims the ends. Silence left at the start and end of the raw audio is cut.
• Tunes the tone for small speakers. An equalizer turns down the deep bass that tablet, laptop and phone speakers cannot play. That bass does not make those speakers sound fuller; it makes them strain and distort, which some people describe as the speaker "peaking out".
• Sets the level. Every music track is brought to the same target loudness, measured in LUFS, the loudness unit broadcasters use. A limiter keeps the highest peaks under a ceiling, and the peaks are measured again after the file is encoded for streaming.
• Adds fades. Each track fades in and out at its edges, and the web player overlaps the end of one music track with the start of the next by a few seconds.

The player adds no level of its own. The volume in each room is set on the device or speaker it plays through.

What automated checks does a new track have to pass?

Every track added in our October 2026 expansion had to pass every check below, measured on the file we actually stream. A track that failed was not published.

The stations also carry tracks published before the expansion. Those were measured too, but under earlier rules a failed measurement could be recorded as a warning instead of holding the track back.

What if a track sounds wrong in our office?

Press "Flag this track" in the player. The player skips to the next track and sends us the flag, with the room it came from. Section 7.7 of our Terms says what happens next:

"If a track does not suit your practice, you can flag it in the Player. A flagged track may be taken out of rotation for every customer while we review it. We decide whether to keep, change or remove any track."

eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 7.7, version 2026-10-11

Because one practice's flag can take a track out of rotation for every practice, a flag does real work. Automated checks can miss things that the people in your rooms will hear.

What does "original" mean, and what does it not mean?

"Original" means only that a track was generated for our catalog and that we did not copy it from existing commercial recordings. It is not a promise about copyright, uniqueness or resemblance to other music.

Section 6.1 of the Terms defines the word narrowly on purpose:

"In these Terms, on our website and on the Certificate, 'original' means only that the Content was generated for eleMusic's catalog with the models and processes described in this Section and was not copied by eleMusic from existing commercial recordings. It does not mean that any Content is protected by copyright, is unique or exclusive to you, or does not resemble or infringe any other work, and it is not a warranty (Section 19)."

eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 6.1, version 2026-10-11

Two more things follow from how these models work. First, the same or similar audio can be made for someone else:

"The Content is not exclusive to you or to any Location. Our model providers may generate the same or similar audio for others, and similar music and sounds may exist elsewhere."

eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 10.3, version 2026-10-11

Second, we do not train the third-party models we use. Our Copyright Policy says: "Third-party models are trained by their providers, and we do not control the data they were trained on. Generative models can produce audio that resembles existing music." The next section says what happens if someone raises that about a track.

What happens if someone says a track resembles their music?

Forward the claim to hello@elemusic.fm. Once you tell us, we remove the track from the catalog or replace it, and stop delivering it to your location, within a reasonable time. If we do neither within 30 days after your notice, you may cancel your plan and receive a refund of the fees you prepaid for the period after cancellation. That is the whole remedy: eleMusic does not defend a practice against a claim, and does not pay or settle one.

Section 11.5 of the Terms sets it out:

"If anyone claims that a track infringes or resembles their work or otherwise violates their rights, and you tell us about the claim, we will, at our option and expense, remove the track from the catalog or replace it, and stop delivering it to your Location, within a reasonable time. Doing so (and, if we do neither, the cancellation and refund in the next sentence) is your sole and exclusive remedy, and our only obligation, for any such claim. If we do neither within 30 days after your notice, you may cancel your Practice Plan by notice to us and receive a refund of the fees you prepaid for the period after cancellation."

eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 11.5, version 2026-10-11

Section 11.4 and Section 22.1 of the Terms say the rest: we do not act as your lawyer, we do not represent or defend you, and we do not pay or settle any claim.

Is eleMusic's music protected by copyright?

We do not say either way. Section 10.2 of the Terms makes no representation:

"Copyright law in the United States and elsewhere may not protect audio generated with AI. 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."

eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 10.2, version 2026-10-11

Our Copyright Policy adds: "We do not currently claim copyright in individual tracks in our catalog, and we make no representation that any track is, or is not, protected by copyright in any country." What a practice gets is a contract. The Terms give each location a limited right to play the music through the eleMusic player, as background audio inside its premises, on no more devices at once than its plan allows, while its plan or trial is active. Those limits apply whatever the copyright status turns out to be.

Do eleMusic tracks carry a watermark?

Some may: a model provider can add an imperceptible watermark when a track is generated, and we do not try to remove it. Section 10.4 of the Terms says so, with an important limit:

"Some Content carries watermarks, provenance data or metadata that identify it as AI-generated, including imperceptible watermarks applied by our model providers. We do not attempt to remove those watermarks, but we do not promise that a watermark is present or detectable in any particular track."

eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 10.4, version 2026-10-11

The reason for that limit is mastering itself. Our Copyright Policy explains: "Our mastering changes the audio, however, and we do not test or promise that any watermark remains detectable in the file we deliver." It also says: "When we master a music track, we add machine-readable metadata that marks it as AI generated." Under Section 6.2, track information in the player and on your certificate may name the model or tool used to create a track. The Terms also say practices must not remove, alter or strip any watermark, metadata or label.

Does eleMusic register its music with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR?

eleMusic does not register its generated catalog with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR. What that means for your practice is a question for your own attorney. Our guide Do dental offices need a music license? lists questions to ask, and Got a letter from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR? covers what to do if one arrives.

What can we tell a patient who asks who made the music?

The plain truth works: it is original instrumental music from eleMusic, generated with AI and mastered by eleMusic. Section 10.5 of the Terms says: "You may state accurately, in plain text (for example, on a sign in your office or on your website), that your practice plays music from eleMusic." Section 9.2 says you must not "present the Content as your own work, as composed or performed by people, or as the work of any artist or other person."

What does eleMusic not claim about its music?

We would rather say less and be right. eleMusic does not claim:

• That a person composed, performed or recorded any track.
• That a person listened to every track before it went live. Our release checks are automated, and the listening reviews are done by an AI model.
• That every track was played on real phones, tablets, laptops or ceiling speakers before release. The small-speaker checks are measurements against a model of a speaker.
• That our checks catch every flaw. That is what the flag button is for.
• That any track is unique, or that no one else will ever have similar audio.
• That any track is, or is not, protected by copyright.
• That a watermark is present or detectable in any particular track.
• That passing our quality checks settles any question about rights. Quality and provenance are separate questions.
• That we will defend your practice against a claim about the music, or pay or settle one.
• Anything about how the music affects patients. We describe how it sounds.

Questions about any of this go to hello@elemusic.fm. For how the stations, devices and access code work day to day, see How it works, and for short answers, the FAQ.

Sources

1. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 6: How the music is made (version 2026-10-11), accessed October 11, 2026
2. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 7.7: Flagging a track, accessed October 11, 2026
3. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 9.1: What you may do, accessed October 11, 2026
4. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 9.2: What the license does not include, accessed October 11, 2026
5. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 10.2: Copyright status of the Content, accessed October 11, 2026
6. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 10.3: No exclusivity, accessed October 11, 2026
7. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 10.4: Watermarks, provenance and metadata, accessed October 11, 2026
8. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 10.5: Trademarks, accessed October 11, 2026
9. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 11.4: If you receive a letter, accessed October 11, 2026
10. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 11.5: Claims about a track, accessed October 11, 2026
11. eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 22.1: eleMusic gives no indemnity, accessed October 11, 2026
12. eleMusic Copyright Policy, Section 2: How the music is made (version 2026-10-03), accessed October 11, 2026
13. eleMusic Copyright Policy, Section 3.1: The music, accessed October 11, 2026