Music for Coffee Shops. Get the Best Out of Your Background Music!

Whether you’re looking for music for coffee shops or tips on what music to choose. This post will give you insight into what you need to think about when selecting your music. Along with how we can help you!

Music for Coffee Shops. We will cover

  • What not to do
  • What to consider when selecting music
  • How to make your customers stay longer
  • How to move customers on
  • Genres to consider playing
  • About us
  • Our service

What Not To Do

When selecting the music to play in your coffee shop it’s important not to put on your favourite tunes. You should only do this if they align well with your brand and customer demographic. The music you play is an important atmospheric element of your customer’s experience. It’s played for your customers, not you.

Don’t play the radio! The radio is rarely a good choice for background music. Adverts, news and music unsuited to your customers all agitate mood. Think about why they are visiting your coffee shop. Customers want to enjoy themselves, relax and have a fun experience. Depressing news stories on the hour do not do this.

You should make your background music choice based on the ambiance you want to create. Not simply to fill the silence. Think about your customer demographic. Your brand, and the experience you want your customers to have with you.

Music for Coffee Shops – What to Consider

Background music in coffee shops is an often underused marketing tool. Used correctly, it can reinforce your brand. Set you apart from your competitors and enhance your customers’ experience. Making their visit enjoyable, remarkable and one they want to repeat!

When it comes to selecting your music think about how long you want your customers to stay. Do you want them to linger and order a second coffee? Stay with you whilst they work? Or whizz in and out so you can achieve a high table turnover rate?

It’s likely to be a combination depending on the footfall you experience. It’s usual for this to vary throughout the day, across the week, and into the weekend. Keep this in mind when you select your music. Don’t be afraid to change it as you move through the week. Doing so will send subtle cues to your customers and influence their behaviour.

How to Make Your Customers Stay Longer

Encourage customers to linger with a slow tempo and low volume

Studies have shown that when customers stay longer they typically spend more. So how do you use your music to create an ambiance that encourages customers to relax, linger and spend more?

Pick tunes with a slow tempo and set your music at a low volume. The volume needs to be set at a level your customers can comfortably hold a conversation. And loud enough to provide a feeling of privacy for those alone. Keep in mind the music is there to enhance not dominate the space. It should be a subtle addition to the space, not a statement.

How to Make Your Customer Move On

Encourage customers to move faster with a mid/high tempo and a higher volume

Looking to increase customer and table turnover and get your customers moving? Then opt for high-tempo tunes and a more noticeable volume. Studies have shown that together they increase customer arousal levels which in turn increases movement and pace.

Not only can this help you manage the pace of your customers it can be a handy tool when you want to close up!

When setting the volume try to ensure you can still hold a conversation at the till without the customer asking you to repeat yourself. You’re trying to make the music a little noticeable rather than a subtle hum in the background.

What Genres to Consider Playing in Your Coffee Shop

When it comes to selecting the perfect genre of music for your coffee shop there’s plenty of choice!

Our top genre suggestions are…

  • Jazz
  • Lounge & Chill
  • Easy Listening
  • Low Tempo Pop and Indie
  • Soul

Top Tip: An instrumental selection is often best if you’re unsure of what to go for. Or if you have a very mixed customer demographic.

Top Tip: Tempo is key when selecting your playlist. When in doubt opt for a mid/low tempo selection of music. This will relax and soothe customers.

Top Tip: Alternate the genre you play across days of the week to mirror how your customers will be feeling. Think Friday feel good, mellow Sundays.

About Us

We’re Background Sounds and we provide background music streaming to coffee shops across the UK.

We specialise in royalty-free music. That’s music you can play without a PRS Music Licence. If you’re not sure what a PRS PPL Music Licence is, you can find out more via Do I Need a Music Licence? The blog covers everything you need to know on the topic.

How our service works

We spend our time building playlists that you can use as background music. The playlists cover a wide variety of genres so there is plenty to choose from.

We put them all in our playlist library. You can access our playlist library using your PC, laptop, mobile or tablet device.

Every playlist comes with a tempo indicator to make it even easier for you to select the right music. You can swap playlists anytime as many times as you want.

You can access the playlist library when you take a subscription with us.

There are two subscription types. Monthly (cancel anytime) or annual (saves you £30).

Pricing is simple and straightforward. There are no tariffs, no max number of seats or audible area to work out.

Annual subscription £150 + vat

Monthly subscription £15 + vat

Get in touch!

We’re always happy to chat through individual music requirements so please do get in touch if you need further information or advice on using our service.

support@backgroundsounds.co.uk