A café is several rooms on one floor: the morning commuter line, the laptop tables, the lunch crowd and the slow afternoon. WeavyAudio gives coffee shops original lo-fi, indie, acoustic and chill songs for each of those hours, cleared for commercial playback for one flat fee per location and with no PRO royalties due on WeavyAudio music.
Not from a personal account. Spotify's support page on public and commercial use says its consumer app cannot be played publicly from a business, and it names bars, restaurants, stores and salons as examples. Apple Music, YouTube and Pandora limit their consumer plans to personal, non-commercial use in the same way. Then there are the songs themselves: most mainstream music is represented by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR, and playing it for customers is a public performance those organizations license, whatever app it comes from.
WeavyAudio is a catalog of original recordings licensed for public playback. Once your subscription is active, you download a license certificate for your location, and there are no PRO royalties due on the WeavyAudio music you play. Keep the house speakers to that one source: a radio at the counter or a barista's phone playlist is a separate use with its own licensing. More in can I play Spotify in my store or restaurant?
One playlist on repeat cannot serve every guest. Build the day from lo-fi, indie, acoustic songs and the focus and mellow moods, following a plan like this:
Open to about 9 am, the commuter rush: bright and positive without feeling frantic. Acoustic songs, indie with light vocals and the Morning collection.
Mid-morning, laptops and meetings: steady and unobtrusive. Lo-fi, chillhop and the Focus mood, a notch quieter and with fewer vocals.
Lunch: more warmth and movement. Upbeat pop and soul at a mid tempo.
Afternoon lull: gentle and unhurried, with chill and mellow tracks. Repeats are most noticeable now, so give this block the widest rotation.
Evening and events: let the energy drift down. If you host open mics or live sets, remember that live performances need their own licensing.
| Zone | Energy | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| Counter & line | Bright, 100–120 BPM | Acoustic · Coffeehouse |
| Laptop tables | Steady and quiet | Lo-fi · Focus |
| Sofas & reading corner | Slow, 60–90 BPM | Chill · Chillhop |
| Patio | Sunny | Upbeat · Bossa Nova |
The grinder, the steam wand and knocking out the portafilter all create sharp spikes of noise. Music with even dynamics holds a sensible level more easily than tracks that swing between quiet and loud. Point the speakers at the seating, not at the counter where baristas call out orders, and judge the level from a chair rather than from behind the bar. In a small room, a small turn of the knob makes a big difference.
Look after the team as well: baristas hear the playlist for the whole shift. A shared skip list and a fresh rotation every few weeks keep the music from wearing on the people making the coffee, and with 848 hours of music across 152 genres there is plenty to rotate through. Our coffee shop music guide has three café playlist blueprints to start from.
$16 a month per location, or $150 a year ($12.50 a month). Every track, unlimited plays, gapless playback and a license certificate for your venue. Cancel anytime.
See pricing →In most cases, yes. Size does not change the fact that playing music for customers is a public performance. The small-business exemption in the Copyright Act covers only radio and TV broadcasts, within size and equipment limits, not streaming apps or playlists. If you play only WeavyAudio, there are no PRO royalties due on that music, and your license certificate documents it.
Music that fits the time of day: bright acoustic and indie in the morning, lo-fi and chillhop for laptop hours, warmer pop at lunch and mellow tracks in the afternoon.
Yes, especially mid-morning and mid-afternoon. A steady beat and soft vocals are easy to talk and work over. Many WeavyAudio lo-fi tracks have a vocal, so for focus hours pick the more instrumental ones, or switch to chillhop, which is mostly instrumental.
Not from a consumer YouTube account, which is limited to personal, non-commercial use. And "royalty-free" or "no copyright" does not automatically mean cleared for your café: a track can be free to use in a video and still not be licensed for public playback in a business.
$16 per month per location, or $150 per year ($12.50 a month). The first 14 days are free, with no card required.