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I have mixed feelings about them and tend to avoid them.
Sometime I'm not quite sure if I'm in a music club that happens to serve food, or a restaurant that happens to have some music.
Once we (a group of 10) were resoundingly SHUSHED by a patron at a place that had a single guitar player in the corner, sort of playing ambient music. Granted this was just one patron who acted this way. But this is a high-energy tapas restaurant and the guitar player wasn't an announced act or anything, he was just playing some brazilian music.
Another time we went to a well-known jazz club that serves full dinners throughout the performances. They don't cut service off at show time. It seemed like all night there were various dirty looks, shushes, and 'ahems' flying across the room. It made me a nervous wreck just watching. We've never been back.
If you go to a jazz or where a band is playing type place, I do think you should be muted in conversation and enjoy the music while you eat. If you prefer conversating, then go elsewhere or hopefully request a part of the club well away from the band, (if they have this available)
It's like when you go to a comedy club with dinner service. You shouldn't talk to your companians while the comedian is on stage.
If it's a single piano or guitar that is playing softly in a dark corner (not on a prominent stage etc), then yes I think you should be able to conversate at will.
I personally much prefer a quiet restaurant where I can talk quietly with my companions.
I'm sorry...I'm a party pooper I can't stand live music in restaurants. It may sound nice, but it's always too loud for me and I can barely be heard. I am soft spoken and end up having to yell to be heard and it's just weird and awkward..so I tend to avoid places I know that have that. I'm sure it works for some though.
The exception is if it's softly (SOFTLY) played piano playing, which can be nice.
I don't like live entertainment either but I did go out Saturday night to an Italian place and they had a guy singing songs in Italian and we enjoyed it. But live bands or DJ music no.
No single rule for me... it all depends on the music, the food, and my mood.
Years ago I frequented a German restaurant with a live polka (and waltz) band. It was great cheerful music, part of the fun, and a good reason to go there if I was in the mood for that particular energy. That's where I first tasted Jaegermeister, as an after dinner digestif, long before the kids discovered it. And I never listened to that kind of music in any other context except at Octoberfest or a Bratwurst festival, but in that context it was completely welcome.
I saw the renowned guitarist Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC shortly before he died, and while the dinner was fine, I don't remember it, while the music will live in my memory forever.
Conversely, at the supper club my friends used to take me to on the beach on the North Shore of Boston, the jazz trio or piano stylist playing on any particular evening was pleasant, and added to the mood, but it was secondary to the phenomenal dinners we enjoyed there.
When I lived in Austin I loved watching the sun go down over Lake Travis (before it dried up) at The Oasis, while eating Mexican food, drinking margaritas and listening to a live blues band that was pretty loud. Those elements all seemed to balance each other well, I thought. And at Threadgill's the band playing cowboy gospel music in the next room when I went for Sunday Brunch was always a nice underscore, but I definitely went for the food.
In Hilo I'm fond of Cafe Pesto, on the bayfront, and I always enjoy the excellent food and the view and the ambience of a high ceiling room from 1902 that survived two major tsunamis, and when I happen to be there on a weekend evening they often have live Hawaiian music by a slack key guitar player/singer that just bumps it all up a notch for me.
On the other hand, I have been to restaurants where a band was playing that did not understand the difference in volume settings to observe whilst people are eating a white tablecloth meal (3-4) vs playing to a stadium (11). I have, on occasion had to ask to be moved to another room, or pulled the plug after cocktails or appetizers and asked for the check when this distinction was grossly misunderstood or ignored .
Like I said... it all depends.
PS, one more... eating cajun food in a roadside diner in Lafayette, Lousiana while listening to live zydeco music... that was really well balanced.
I've had a splitting headache all day. Not a good time to respond. There have been settings where music and food mix well. Depends on the company too.
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I prefer to eat in peace.
I can't stand live music in restaurants. It may sound nice, but it's always too loud for me and I can barely be heard. I am soft spoken and end up having to yell to be heard and it's just weird and awkward..so I tend to avoid places I know that have that. I'm sure it works for some though. 
There have been settings where music and food mix well. Depends on the company too.
