A clear licence
Understand which music, spaces and uses the offer covers, with relevant country information alongside it.
Background music for business
Music for bookshops. Leave room for the next page.
A customer may move from scanning the shelves to reading several pages without leaving the same aisle. Choose a background that works for both, and for the bookseller recommending the next title. Start with the original instrumental examples below, then compare their presence where people actually browse, read and ask questions.
See pricing ↗Plans for one venue in these countries: Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States. A card is required for the trial; cancel any time. Conditions for each country
Weekly schedules with special datesOriginal music, licensed for businessOne plan per venue
The music and the licence, together
Good music.
Less to worry about.
Your business needs the right atmosphere and a clear way to use the soundtrack. The catalogue and its business licence come together, with the scope and cost explained before you subscribe.
How simple licensing works ↗Plans available in: Australia · New Zealand · United Kingdom · United States
A price you can see
One plan per venue, monthly or yearly, with the price shown before you sign up. No separate licence for every song or play.
A$19.99 · NZ$24.99 · £9.99 · $14.99 / month
See pricing ↗A schedule that runs the day
Plan opening, busy hours and wind-down once. Special dates handle holidays and closures, and gap music covers unscheduled time.
Find your kind of sound
Three original directions for the shelves.
Explore stations and collections for your space. Listen to public samples here; full business playback requires the applicable account access and licence.
Explore the station concepts. Audio previews will appear as recordings are ready.
Soft focus
Ambient · Instrumental
First light
Acoustic · Instrumental
The piano room
Piano · Instrumental
A rhythm for the working day
Match the moment, not just the genre.
01
From the shelf to an open book
Take a book to the place where someone would stand and read an excerpt. Compare Soft focus’s ambient texture with the warmer acoustic direction of First light at the same playback level. Notice whether a musical change pulls your attention away from the page. Choose from what you hear in the room; an instrumental label does not automatically make every passage unobtrusive.
02
A recommendation at the counter
Ask a colleague for a book recommendation while the selection plays. Listen from the customer’s position as well as behind the counter, including the nearest speaker. Names, titles and ordinary follow-up questions should remain easy to exchange. Adjust the background where you hear it rather than turning up the whole shop because the entrance is busier.
03
A reading seat that can stay quiet
Try The piano room if a calm piano direction suits the shop, and compare it with the space around Soft focus. Also decide whether the reading seat should hear music at all. If sound carries there from another area, check your existing speaker arrangement. Several speakers receiving one output do not create independently selectable music programmes.
Save a daily schedule in your account. The venue player follows it while the browser stays open and your device stays awake.
Sketch your day’s music ↗Make it work in your space
Choose music for the way you actually operate.
Keep a short comparison note
Record the programme, playback level, place tested and what interrupted the reading or conversation, if anything. Repeat the check with the shop’s normal activity and the same short excerpt. This gives the next bookseller a useful reason for the choice. It does not measure reading speed, concentration or a likely increase in purchases.
Know how to pause for spoken activity
Keep the music control accessible when somebody needs to speak to the room. Pause the background manually and confirm the result; Open Hours does not detect a voice and lower the music automatically. Keep an author reading, audiobook or other spoken programme as a separate provision. When returning to ordinary trading, check whether you want manual playback or Follow saved schedule in the account workspace.
Use a programme that fits the working day
A station continues with available recordings during active playback; an ordered collection ends after its sequence. Choose the behavior deliberately for a long browsing period. The public day planner is a separate local draft; save and activate the real schedule in the account. Keep the browser open on an awake, connected device. The offer currently includes one venue and one simultaneous stream; enter the actual venue country to review the applicable plan.
Less music admin. More atmosphere.
Your next good soundtrack starts here.
Create your account to see plans for your venue, with original music, daily scheduling and clear business licensing.
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A few useful answers
Questions about music for bookshops.
Does a bookshop need classical music?
No single genre is required. Soft focus offers original ambient music, First light a warm acoustic direction and The piano room original piano. The piano programme is not a collection of familiar classical recordings. Compare an excerpt of each with the kind of browsing and reading your shop actually hosts.
Does Open Hours include audiobooks or author readings?
Open Hours supplies its own original instrumental music catalogue. It does not provide an audiobook catalogue, amplify a reading or insert a spoken programme between tracks. Keep the equipment and arrangements for those activities separate from the ordinary background-music choice.
Can the reading corner have a different programme from the shop?
The current offer includes one simultaneous stream. A reading corner can need a different sound level or quiet, but that depends on your existing speaker and output arrangement. Do not assume one subscription gives two independently programmed areas. Discuss a requirement beyond the current plan before choosing.
Will saving opening hours start the music on a closed laptop?
No. The browser workspace needs an awake, connected device and an active playback mode. A saved plan does not wake a laptop or open its browser. Give the opening bookseller a clear device and playback check. Create an account and add the business name and actual venue country to see the offer; the private music workspace and commercial documents are currently in English.
What does royalty-free business music mean here?
Our direct licence includes the covered catalogue and business uses in your subscription, without a separate royalty invoice from us for every covered track or play. It does not mean unrestricted use or automatically remove local requirements. Your country offer explains its scope before purchase.
How much does it cost?
Each plan covers one venue and one stream, billed monthly or yearly, and starts with a 7-day free trial. The pricing page lists the price for each country before you sign up.
Can I use a preview in my business now?
No. Published samples are for listening on this website while you assess the sound. They do not grant venue-playback or redistribution rights. Playing music in your business needs an active plan.
Is the service limited to the language I’m browsing in?
No. Your preferred language, the country where music plays and the type of use are separate. We are building for businesses globally and reviewing local offers as they become ready. Tell us your location and needs in the enquiry form.
Keep exploring.
Your next good sound
Make music one less thing to manage.
Create your account, choose a plan for your venue and find your everyday soundtrack.