Background Existing music questionnaires designed for adult cochlear implant (CI) users are limited in their ability to measure real-world benefits of auditory music training and new technologies. Aims To investigate aspects of CI users’ relationship with music that are relevant to quality of life (QoL) domains, with a view to generating items for a new questionnaire. Methods Thirty adult CI users participated in 1 of 6 focus groups about music in everyday life. The group discussion data were analyzed based on the theory of template analysis. The QoL domains of the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire were used as broad a priori categories to help with organizing associated themes. Participants also evaluated items of existing questionnaires. Results The themes identified in the discussion were organized into three main domains (music listening ability, attitude towards music, musical activity), which constituted the music-related quality of life (MuRQoL) of CI users. Fifty-three items were developed for a prototype questionnaire using a combination of these themes and items from existing questionnaires highly rated by participants. Conclusion The study highlights musical abilities, attitudes and activities of adult CI users poorly addressed or not addressed at all by previous questionnaires. By covering novel aspects of music experience, the MuRQoL questionnaire was optimized and validated in another study before becoming available for use.