Apple opens 600-capacity music venue in London
Apple has opened Apple Music Hall, a new 600-capacity live music venue and production facility at Battersea Power Station in London.
The venue has been designed to combine intimate live performances with professional recording, broadcast and video production facilities, allowing artists to capture audio and video content from the same show.
Apple Music Hall features a 38-foot-wide reconfigurable stage that can accommodate traditional front-facing performances as well as in-the-round formats. The venue is also equipped with a 48-speaker spatial audio system positioned around the audience.
Behind the stage, two dedicated recording and mixing studios allow performances to be captured as multitrack recordings and mixed in Spatial Audio either live or following the show.
The venue is also hardwired for 16 or more cameras connected to a purpose-built broadcast control room. The system supports traditional broadcast cameras alongside iPhone video capture.
According to Apple, the infrastructure means artists can perform a concert and leave with a finished Spatial Audio recording, broadcast-ready audio mix and multicamera video from the same performance. Shows from Apple Music Hall can also be livestreamed globally through Apple’s platforms.
“Apple’s deep love for music dates all the way back to the very beginning, from the launch of the iPod to the long-running iTunes Music Festival to the debut of Apple Music,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and International Content.
“Today, with the opening of Apple Music Hall, we are once again taking an unprecedented step further in our commitment to artists and fans by supporting live music in ways only Apple can do.”
Located inside the redeveloped Battersea Power Station complex alongside the River Thames, the venue incorporates architectural elements inspired by the former power station, including brickwork, fluted arches and bronze balconies.
The opening extends Apple’s involvement in live music. The company previously operated the iTunes Festival, later renamed the Apple Music Festival, which presented concerts in London between 2007 and 2016, with performances also distributed through Apple’s digital services.