Music for cafés
Café music that keeps pace with your day
A café lives three different days between opening and closing. At eight it is queues, milk steaming and orders called across the counter. By early afternoon the room belongs to people with laptops and long conversations. In the evening it slows down, the lights get warmer and the last guests linger.
One playlist on repeat cannot serve all three. Tunelay lets you set the right mood for each part of the day once, then gets out of the way: the player on your counter tablet changes mood on time, blends tracks with a soft crossfade and keeps playing from its local cache even when the Wi-Fi gives up.
What usually goes wrong with café music
These are the problems most cafés run into with background music.
Someone’s phone runs the playlist
The barista connects their own phone, the music follows their taste, and it stops when they go on a break or a call comes in.
The same twenty songs, all week
Regulars hear the same tracks every morning. Staff hear them eight hours a day and start skipping or switching them off.
Wrong energy at the wrong time
Upbeat tracks during a quiet reading afternoon, or something sleepy during the morning rush when you need the room to move.
Every branch sounds different
With several cafés, each team improvises. The brand feels different in every location and nobody knows what is playing where.
Listen to this atmosphere
Moods that suit a café
Curated by our team and approved track by track. You can combine them into your own playlists.
Preview clips are added once their promotional rights are documented.
Morning Coffee
Acoustic guitar, light piano and brushed drums. Awake and friendly, never pushy during the queue.
- Acoustic
- Light jazz
Samples coming soon
Focus
Warm lo-fi and gentle instrumentals for guests who stay with a laptop for hours.
- Lo-fi
- Instrumental
Samples coming soon
Evening Lounge
Mellow lounge and soft grooves for the last hours before closing.
- Lounge
- Downtempo
Samples coming soon
A typical café schedule
A starting point you can adjust in minutes. The player switches automatically, with a crossfade between moods.
Morning rush
Morning Coffee
Light, positive, a little tempo to keep the queue moving.
Late morning & lunch
Morning Coffee → Soft Dining
Slightly fuller sound for a busier room and short lunch visits.
Laptop afternoon
Focus
Low-distraction instrumentals so guests can work and talk.
Winding down
Evening Lounge
Warmer, slower, ready for a quiet close. At closing time the music fades out on its own.
Times are an example — you set your own.
How it fits
How cafés use Tunelay
One tablet at the counter
The player runs on the Android tablet most cafés already have, connected to whatever speaker you use — Bluetooth, AUX/3.5 mm, USB or HDMI. Staff can pause, play or turn it down right on the tablet.
Staff stay in control, within limits
Baristas can pause for a delivery, skip a track or turn it down. You set the maximum volume, and settings sit behind a four-digit manager PIN.
Separate branches, one schedule
Write a group-wide weekly schedule once. Give the branch near the university a longer focus afternoon, or a Sunday brunch mood, as an exception.
Quiet after closing
Opening hours are set per location. When the café closes, the music fades out over ten seconds and stays off until opening — no one has to remember.
Example scenarios
Illustrative situations based on how cafés typically run — not customer stories.
The Saturday brunch
Weekends start later and get busier around eleven. Add a Saturday and Sunday exception that starts with Morning Coffee at nine and moves to a livelier brunch mix at eleven, while weekdays stay unchanged.
The router restarts mid-morning
The internet drops for twenty minutes during the busiest hour. The player keeps going from its cache; the dashboard shows it as offline and back online once it reconnects. Guests notice nothing.
A new branch opens
The manager installs the player on the new tablet, reads the six-digit code from the screen and enters it in the dashboard under the new location. The group schedule applies straight away.
Setup
Setting up a café
- 1Install the Tunelay player on your Android tablet or Windows PC.
- 2Add the café as a location in the dashboard and set its opening hours.
- 3Pair the player by typing the six-digit code it shows on screen.
- 4Pick a schedule — start with the café template — and let music download.
- 5Set a maximum volume and a manager PIN for your staff.
Frequently asked questions
Will it work with the speaker we already have?
If your speaker connects to a tablet by Bluetooth or cable, it should work. During your demo we check your setup with you remotely.
Can different branches play different music?
Yes. Branches share a group schedule by default, and you can add exceptions for a single location or a single date. The exception always wins.
What if a barista turns the volume all the way up?
They can’t go above the maximum you set for that zone in the dashboard.
Does the music stop when the Wi-Fi is slow?
No. Tracks are cached on the device in advance and new downloads wait until the connection is good, without interrupting playback.
Keep exploring
Hear how your café could sound
Tell us your opening hours and how many branches you run. We’ll show you a schedule built around your day.