Oh how this thread strikes a nerve with me, and a good nerve at that.
I used to run a coffeehouse in St.Louis for a couple of years and as such, had carte blanche as far as atmosphere, decorating, music and such. Of all the things included in the "ambience", the music was the hardest to peg.
We had already opened and had purchased a satellite music system for background tunes. This system afforded us with 200+ different stations and styles of music. We would switch from light jazz to dixieland to slide guitar blues, each time trying to get a read on our customers who by this time were large in number.
Finally, one of our employees suggested that we let the customers decide on what music should be played. So we set the sound system up in the front of the house and situated 2 remote controls where the customers could switch channels. We placed a sign nearby encouraging "artistic expression" by changing channels and posted a musical menu for them to choose from.
It worked.
After a month, the consensus was as follows.
Conducive to coffeehouse atmosphere:
1. Straight jazz (Davis, Monk, Mingus, etc.)
2. Retro lounge (
this sort of stuff)
3. 1950's vocals (Bennett, Sinatra, Fitzgerald, etc.)
Non-conducive:
1. Country (duh)
2. Rap (double-duh)
3. Rock (of any kind)