Puana · Programming a room
What to play in a
dining room, and when.
Most writing on this subject describes music it will not let you hear. Every station below plays on this page, free, without an account — so you can judge the advice by ear instead of taking it on faith.
Tempo is the lever
The foundational study here is older than most of the restaurants arguing about it. In 1986 Ronald Milliman published results from a real dining room comparing music under 72 BPM against music over 94 BPM. Slower music kept guests at the table longer and raised beverage spend. Faster music moved them through.
The useful part is not “slow music is better.” It is that tempo is the one variable you can change on purpose, and its effect runs in whichever direction your night needs. A room trying to turn tables and a room trying to fill a slow Tuesday want opposite things from the same lever.
Milliman, R. E. (1986). The Influence of Background Music on the Behavior of Restaurant Patrons.Journal of Consumer Research, 13(2), 286–289.
One room, four rooms
A dining room is not one space. It is a quiet morning, a social midday, an evening that wants to feel considered, and a late hour that wants to feel alive — and the same playlist cannot be right for all four. Programming by daypart is the whole craft.
Below is a working structure. Press any of them.
Volume, without a decibel meter
The honest answer is that a fixed decibel target is close to useless, because the same setting is wrong at 6pm and right at 9pm. A full room absorbs sound; an empty one throws it back off hard surfaces.
The test that works: stand in the middle of the room during service and watch a table of four. If they are leaning in to hear each other, you are too loud — regardless of what any meter says. If the room feels like a waiting area, you are too quiet. Both are visible from across the floor in about ten seconds.
The part most guides get wrong
Playing music where customers can hear it is a public performance, and that is a different permission from the one a personal streaming subscription grants. Spotify’s terms license personal, non-commercial listening; Apple Music’s do the same. This is not a grey area and it is not about how many people are in the room.
There are two honest routes. Obtain public-performance licences from the organisations representing the songwriters, or use a service whose rights already cover playing it in your space. Puana is the second kind — we own the recordings, so the permission comes with the subscription rather than as separate paperwork.
One honest caveat, since most pages omit it: a licence covering one service’s catalogue covers that catalogue. A room with live musicians, a jukebox, or a television showing broadcast content still needs cover for those.
Questions people actually ask
What tempo should restaurant music be?
The research that started this field compared music under 72 BPM with music over 94 BPM in a real dining room. Slower music kept guests at the table longer and raised beverage spend; faster music moved them through. Neither is correct on its own — it depends whether you are trying to turn tables or fill them.
How loud should background music be in a restaurant?
Loud enough that a silent room feels furnished, quiet enough that a table of four never raises their voices. The practical test is to stand at the centre of the room during service and listen for whether people are leaning in — that is the signal to come down, and it is more reliable than any decibel target because it accounts for how full the room is and how hard the surfaces are.
Can I use my personal Spotify or Apple Music account in my restaurant?
No. Those services license personal, non-commercial listening — playing them where customers can hear counts as a public performance and is outside what a personal account grants. A business needs either public-performance licences from the performing-rights organisations that represent the songwriters, or a service that carries those rights with it.
Does the music actually change what guests spend?
The measured effects are on how long people stay and what they order rather than on any direct persuasion. In Milliman's restaurant study, slower music lengthened stays and increased beverage purchases. Treat it as a lever on pace, not a trick.
Run a room?
Puana for Business covers playing this in your space, with scheduling so the dayparts above change themselves.
Puana for Business →