Well my cousin opened up a restaurant and he wants me to burn him some cd's so he can play. It's a hip looking place, more like art deco here in south beach. It's a small place, probably sits around 55 people max. Think about it as a regular sized starbucks. Its a bistro menu, but also serves as a fast food place, so if your on the go..the most you wait is 15 minutes. I'm confused on what music i should burn for him. I have dave matthews in mind, gorillaz, moby, red hot chili peppers (new double cd), and u2. Any other suggestions? Jazz maybe?
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What music to play in restaurant??!!??
- Thread starter AJ Muni
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I don't know if James Blunt is the kind of thing you want playing. His music is a little on the depressing side, which from your description of the restaurant doesn't really seem to match. That's just my opinion though.
I think some modern jazz and a bit of new age stuff can really funk a place up if that's the sort of thing you're cousin's going for.
I think some modern jazz and a bit of new age stuff can really funk a place up if that's the sort of thing you're cousin's going for.
AJ Muni said:
What kind of music? Probably the legal kind so he doesn't eventually get some heavy-handed Performing Rights Organisation involved.
Don't laugh, it almost happened to us a few years ago when I was in a different job. All rights reserved covers public performances.
If I were running a restaurant the music I would choose would include (depending on the audience/neighborhood)
miles davis
billie holliday
ella fitzgerald
nina simone
thelonious monk
(^^ if you don't want to go all over, verve records has some great collection discs..)
(more upbeat selections from) air
digable planets
dj krush
dj shadow (the live disc is well suited for restaurants)
the score from fight club
fela kuti
galactic
(older) massive attack
nusrat fateh ali khan
prefuse 73
rjd2
slowdeck
thievery corporation
zero 7
and dub reggae on sundays.
Mostly instrumental stuff, chill but upbeat, which is why jazz would work pretty well. You want to have music that people won't notice offhand, but will like if they bother to listen. Of course, depending on the time of day or week you'd want to change it up. For example zero 7 would be fine for weekday breakfast, but friday night you'd want to pick up the pace a little with some fela or def jux stuff. Also try and stick to stuff people aren't hearing everywhere. Table turnover is important, but you don't want to put people off by popping them out. Also if a music head is at your restaurant and you're playing something cool that they don't recognize offhand, you gain a lot in the memorability factor.
miles davis
billie holliday
ella fitzgerald
nina simone
thelonious monk
(^^ if you don't want to go all over, verve records has some great collection discs..)
(more upbeat selections from) air
digable planets
dj krush
dj shadow (the live disc is well suited for restaurants)
the score from fight club
fela kuti
galactic
(older) massive attack
nusrat fateh ali khan
prefuse 73
rjd2
slowdeck
thievery corporation
zero 7
and dub reggae on sundays.
Mostly instrumental stuff, chill but upbeat, which is why jazz would work pretty well. You want to have music that people won't notice offhand, but will like if they bother to listen. Of course, depending on the time of day or week you'd want to change it up. For example zero 7 would be fine for weekday breakfast, but friday night you'd want to pick up the pace a little with some fela or def jux stuff. Also try and stick to stuff people aren't hearing everywhere. Table turnover is important, but you don't want to put people off by popping them out. Also if a music head is at your restaurant and you're playing something cool that they don't recognize offhand, you gain a lot in the memorability factor.
You might check out the Podsafe Music network. I'm not sure exactly how it all works, but I think you might be able to get a lower rate on playing artists' music from there than you will from the RIAA. If you intend on playing commercially-available music in a restaurant you can plan on getting a visit from the music industry relatively soon, and being sent a hefty bill.
gauchogolfer said:
Even if I own all the music i've mentioned? I knew i was going to have some sort of RIAA crap mentioned. It never fails. I guess all the bars/restaurants on the beach are going to get hefty bills as well. Anyways thanks for the advice.
AJ Muni said:
You don't own music. You have a license to play it, but not to duplicate it for others or play it publically.
You're welcome to ignore the law but don't say you haven't been told.
Besides, this hasn't got anything to do with the RIAA apart from the duplication. Performing rights is more to do with ASCAP, BMI etc.
Embrace
Arctic Monkeys
Billy Joel
Jason Mraz
Howie Day
Coldplay
Muse
Ben Folds
Eric Clapton
The Fray
Keane
just to name a few
Arctic Monkeys
Billy Joel
Jason Mraz
Howie Day
Coldplay
Muse
Ben Folds
Eric Clapton
The Fray
Keane
just to name a few
The Cat Empire
Awesome jazz/latin/ethnic band from Melbourne. They do some poppy-stuff and some really good modern jazz with a mixture of instruments that just can't be topped.
Very lively, very unique.
If you can find them over there, their self-titled album's a pearler, "Two Shoes" was recorded and written in Cuba and so has a more latin beat to it and some quieter stuff. I haven't heard their newest one but it's apparently more experimental and jazz stuff also done in Cuba but influenced from their underground improv days.
Highly recommended.
Awesome jazz/latin/ethnic band from Melbourne. They do some poppy-stuff and some really good modern jazz with a mixture of instruments that just can't be topped.
Very lively, very unique.
If you can find them over there, their self-titled album's a pearler, "Two Shoes" was recorded and written in Cuba and so has a more latin beat to it and some quieter stuff. I haven't heard their newest one but it's apparently more experimental and jazz stuff also done in Cuba but influenced from their underground improv days.
Highly recommended.
I'm not sure what you should play, but I know you shouldn't play any punk, emo, hip hop, country or any other kind of music that can be easily despised. Although, as the other posters said, Galactic would be a great choice.
Flippin frack...
OK, the RIAA is NOT in the building, are we agreed on that?
I think we should consider a variation of the Nazi forum rule for the RIAA. A thread becomes political (or is declared off-topic) as soon as someone invokes the RIAA, esp. if they have no idea what the RIAA really is.
Your country has a Performing Rights society, whose job it is to collect royalties on public performance of music, including radio play, clubs and dancehalls, and commercial background music like restaurants. They will assess an annual license fee based on either the number of clientele, or the square footage of the venue.
Once paid, this fee gives you the right to play any music covered by the performing rights organization to the public. In the case where there is more than one PRO, you may have to contract with both of them - or only choose artists who are signed up with the one you contract with.
(Note that it does not cover any aspect of what media the music is played from or if it was purchased -- that's a different issue entirely.)
In the USA, check both BMI and ASCAP
http://www.bmi.com/licensing/business/generalfaq.asp
http://www.bmi.com/licensing/business/rights.asp
http://www.bmi.com/licensing/business/groupc/
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/licensingfaq.html
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/about.html
In Canada, the society is SOCAN
http://www.socan.ca/jsp/en/about/faq/licensors.jsp
OK, the RIAA is NOT in the building, are we agreed on that?
I think we should consider a variation of the Nazi forum rule for the RIAA. A thread becomes political (or is declared off-topic) as soon as someone invokes the RIAA, esp. if they have no idea what the RIAA really is.
Your country has a Performing Rights society, whose job it is to collect royalties on public performance of music, including radio play, clubs and dancehalls, and commercial background music like restaurants. They will assess an annual license fee based on either the number of clientele, or the square footage of the venue.
Once paid, this fee gives you the right to play any music covered by the performing rights organization to the public. In the case where there is more than one PRO, you may have to contract with both of them - or only choose artists who are signed up with the one you contract with.
(Note that it does not cover any aspect of what media the music is played from or if it was purchased -- that's a different issue entirely.)
In the USA, check both BMI and ASCAP
http://www.bmi.com/licensing/business/generalfaq.asp
http://www.bmi.com/licensing/business/rights.asp
http://www.bmi.com/licensing/business/groupc/
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/licensingfaq.html
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/about.html
In Canada, the society is SOCAN
http://www.socan.ca/jsp/en/about/faq/licensors.jsp
AJ Muni said:
It all depends on if they are up to date on paying their license fee or not.
Lethal
Blue Velvet said:
Aye to that. I helped set up a pub a few years back (well the projector bit). they asked me to burn them some tracks to a CD. I said "no". very risky.
They got some guy to do it eventually, no idea who. Anyways. few months later the pub was ordered to pay a fine or risk shutting down because of pirated music. madness! the danger is always there, I had no contact with the landlord after my stint there but I can only guess that the original pirate was also fined heftily.
Just be careful, mr. OP and your cousin.
You mean digital radio? Well and good, but the public performance fee still has to be paid.blackfox said:
The other option is to subscribe to a background music service, typically the royalties are covered in the monthly fee.
DJ Cam (mix of jazz and DJ beats)
Autechre
Boards of Canada
Classic Jazz/Blues (Miles Davis, Coltrane, Ella, etc.)
Autechre
Boards of Canada
Classic Jazz/Blues (Miles Davis, Coltrane, Ella, etc.)