Bars
Guides
February 9, 2024
9 min read

A practical guide to selecting background music for bars and pubs 

background-music-for-bars

The atmosphere of your bar or pub plays a crucial role in creating the best customer experience, with music serving as a key component that sets the right mood. Music may influence consumer behavior, helping food and beverage venues improve KPIs such as guest level of satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. 

Furthermore, tailored music can allow you to optimize table turnover rates, shape brand identity, and raise dwell time. By using background music for bars and pubs strategically, it is possible to increase sales by over 40%, according to studies! 

However, many establishments still underestimate the importance of brand-fit music. Some of them play inappropriate music and simply don’t see any results. Other businesses discovered good playlists on Spotify but had to pay fines imposed by music rights holders or collective management organizations (CMOs).

* Using B2C apps like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, etc. for commercial purposes is illegal. B2B music streaming platforms, in turn, offer licensed content only, simplifying and automating background music management in public places. 

So, it is essential to select background music for bars and pubs properly. Additionally, you need to achieve seamless playback without ads, network interruptions, and cutoffs caused by staff switching between songs. If you have multiple locations, ensuring ease of music control everywhere is another challenge. 

To help you leverage the power of background music, we’ve prepared a detailed guide specifically for bars and pubs. Have a look.

How do you select background music for bars and pubs?

1. Know your target audience’s needs

The first step to curating the perfect music selection is getting an understanding of your target audience. Are your patrons young adults looking for a lively night out? Or are they a more mature clientele seeking a relaxed atmosphere? 

The answer will clarify what music your potential and current customers enjoy and need. An urban bar, for example, may choose contemporary genres such as indie rock, electronic, and hip hop, while a traditional pub should play classic rock, folk, or jazz.

2. Choose relevant genres

After identifying the target audience and their needs, it will be much easier to choose genres for music playlists for your bar or pub. It is also important to have knowledge of what genres fit different F&B establishments and can evoke the desired experiences. 

For instance, since classical music helps create a calm, elegant, and luxurious ambiance, it is generally not used in bars and pubs. Energetic and joyful tracks like rock, pop, R&B, and electronic allow for designing a more dynamic vibe that may become a perfect match for a bar or pub. 

However, the type of venue plays a crucial role. A wine bar, for example, can freely opt for moderate indie pop, soft pop, contemporary soul, and jazz. A cocktail lounge bar should stream jazz and soul to provide a more sophisticated customer experience. Traditional Irish music and Celtic rock are a surefire way for Irish pubs.

3. Adjust tempo and volume

The tempo and volume of music are important as genres. Typically, it is advisable to play slow-tempo, more soft music in the daytime or early evening when visitors are more likely to engage in conversations. 

As night falls, you should increase the tempo and volume to energize the atmosphere and encourage dancing. When selecting background music for pubs and bars, it is essential to maintain a balance. In some cases, too loud music may hinder conversations, having a negative impact on the customer experience.

4. Consider the time of day 

By adjusting music to the time of day, food and beverage establishments can improve the guest experience and stimulate desired behaviors like conversations, drinking, or dancing. What’s more, it is possible to influence dwell time. In addition, you should tailor the volume and tempo accordingly. 

If you want to increase table turnover rates while creating a lively mood during dinner time, a F&B business can stream more fast, energetic tracks. To evoke a sense of excitement and entertainment, you may add pop, country, and electronic genres to music playlists for bars and pubs. 

Let’s have a look at how a F&B venue can change music throughout the day to boost patron satisfaction. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Pavillon Bar & Kitchen is a bar that provides various interpretations of classic dishes, pizza, and cocktails. 

“Music content is a massive part of the F&B business for drawing in customers, making them stay and creating venue personality. But the music has to fit the venue and it must have a personal touch… Music curation is a growing need and a business that ultimately creates atmosphere, identity, branding – which all result in that X factor: loyalty.” —George Marchant, the head of Pavillon Bar & Kitchen.

5. Curate playlists for your bar or pub

Creating playlists for bars and pubs is both an art and a science. With a well-curated playlist, you will provide a seamless transition through the night, creating the required dynamics and encouraging the desired behaviors.

DJs generally recommend starting with more mellow songs and gradually building up to upbeat, energetic tracks. Mixing familiar hits with not-very-known tunes will help you cater to a wider range of tastes while introducing new music to customers.

6. Licensing and legal considerations

To avoid fines and lawsuits when using background music for commercial goals, F&B establishments have to comply with licensing regulations. Playing music via B2C streaming applications (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) at public places is illegal, as they serve for private purposes only.

Moodby Play is an example of a trusted provider of licensed music streaming services for businesses that includes numerous playlists for bars and pubs. 

Tailor music to the type of your bar or pub

Have a look at the examples of what music will suit different types of bars and pubs.

1. American bar

Daytime. Acoustic folk, soft rock, jazz, blues, pop, hip hop, mexican. 

Evenings. 70-80-90-00s pop, rock, hard rock, jazz, country.

2. Cocktail bar

Daytime. Jazz, R&B, lounge, soul, light electronics, reggae. 

Evenings. Funk, modern R&B, jazz electronics, trendy soft pop.

3. Sports bar

Daytime. Classic rock, pop, top 40 hits, hip hop, country, R&B, reggae.

Evenings. Rock, alternative, hip hop, EDM, rap, pop, house.

4. Pub

Daytime, afternoons. Soft pop, blues, soft rock, jazz, modern hits, 70s-80s-90s-00s music.

Evenings. Rock’n’roll, hard rock, alternative, indie, funk, pop, R&B, jazz, electronics.

5. Irish pub

Daytime. Traditional Irish music.

Evenings. Traditional Irish music, rock and pop hits of 70s-80s-90s, Celtic rock. 

6. Old English-style pub

Daytime. Folk, soft rock, classic rock, jazz, blues, traditional English music, traditional Irish music.

Evenings. Folk, rock, classic rock, British pop, Celtic music, jazz, swing, indie.

How do you curate music playlists for bars and pubs?

Ensure a seamless music experience with Moodby Play

Compiling an ideal selection of music for bars and pubs may take a lot of time. On top of that, this requires certain expertise and knowledge, from music impact on consumer behavior to choosing songs taking into account tempo, volume, genres, rhythm, and other aspects. 

Moodby Plays offers hundreds of playlists and stations tailored to different venues and composed by professional DJs. Furthermore, Moodby Play provides not only licensed music for bars and pubs but also rich functionality to ensure ease of background music management. With the platform, you will be able to provide music playback that is not interrupted by ads or Internet disconnections.

You will also receive access to a jukebox song request app to bring unique entertainment to guests, improve their engagement, and drive sales. 

🎁So, get a 30-day free trial and start streaming in minutes; no hardware is required.

* Please note that Moodby Play and Moodby Jukebox are currently available to public places and their customers in Austria, Poland, Ireland, Romania, Belgium, and Cyprus.

Conclusion

The strategic use of background music for bars and pubs can transform a simple night or evening into an unforgettable experience. By carefully selecting genres, tempos, and volumes that resonate with your target audience, you can ensure a welcoming atmosphere that causes customers to stay longer and spend more at your place. 

Remember, the goal is to complement the unique character of your bar or pub with music that amplifies its appeal, making every visit memorable. With the right soundtrack, your venue won’t just be a place to drink. It will be a destination where music creates a lasting impression and encourages positive feedback.

Diana Maltseva