Interestingly, the documentation is not as "in your face obvious" on this question as I would have sworn it was.
The entire point of the MATLAB Compiler is to provide an option for sharing MATLAB code to users without MATLAB licenses. This is accomplished through the freely available MATLAB Runtime. In fact, go here to download a runtime regardless of your current license status.
The way this works is that the runtime is useless by itself. It can only serve MATLAB executables, and those can only be generated by a MATLAB license that includes the MATLAB Compiler (a rather expensive toolbox).
So, the MATLAB runtime is good to go. The only question you need to answer is whether your license number includes the MATLAB Compiler. Simply type "ver" from MATLAB Command Window to see if you have it installed. Or, log into your MathWorks account to check your licensed toolboxes.
