When choosing the right music to play in your store, it’s important to think about more than just your own personal taste. Play what you like, of course, but the best playlist should also complement your brand and appeal to your customers. Match the vibe of your store and consider how your customers feel upon entering the store and how long they might choose to stay.

Try using your brand to set the tone for the music you want to play. Use other stores as inspiration. You may walk into a surf shop, for example, and hear the Beach Boys playing, or walk into a guitar store and hear Van Halen or Jimi Hendrix. (The above artists are a bit old, but they do match the general theme of each store. For your store, even though people love nostalgia, you probably want to think more of contemporary music.)

Also consider the tempo of the songs. Ask yourself: Am I working in a fast-paced environment, or does the vibe feel more relaxed? How do I want my customers to feel when they walk around my store? If your store feels calm and your customers casually browse through merchandise, you might want to go for soft music: smooth jazz, slow R&B, indie rock. Conversely, if your store really stands out and your customers are active and shop up and down each aisle, then you might want to think about playing hip hop, funk, disco, rock, etc.

Go for what’s popular today, and it would be wise to avoid songs that contain explicit lyrics. You want people of all ages to feel comfortable in your store, so do the best you can to stay mindful of others. Unfortunately, you cannot play music from your own personal playlists in your store due to copyright issues. You typically need to get licenses from a few performance rights organizations, and you have to use a commercial music service like Pandora, Soundtrack, or Soundmachine. You can still have the freedom to play what you want, but for your business, you want to make sure that your background music is legally licensed.

The volume of your music may also set the tone. You should always avoid playing it too loudly because it can be distracting and make it hard to hear if customers need help from employees. You also don’t want the volume to be too low, so keep it at a reasonable level where people can shop easily and still enjoy the music.

Feel free to mix your songs up a bit to make sure that you’re not playing the same thing over and over again. It’s really up to you to judge your surroundings and make the right choice.