Apple Opens Its Own Concert Venue Inside London's Battersea Power Station

Tech companies love to sponsor music. Apple has gone a step further and built its own venue. Apple Music Hall has opened inside London's Battersea Power Station, the art deco landmark best known to music fans as the building on the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals.

Small room, arena-sized production

The venue holds just 600 people, and Apple says it was designed so every seat feels close to the performer. Behind that intimacy is serious infrastructure: a 38-foot-wide stage that can be reconfigured for front-facing or in-the-round shows, and a 48-speaker spatial sound system that surrounds the audience, so artists who perform in spatial audio can place sound all around the room.

The design nods to its surroundings, with heritage brickwork, fluted arches and bronze balconies inspired by the power station's historic windows. A giant glass wall looks out over the concourse and the River Thames.

A studio disguised as a venue

The more interesting part is what happens behind the stage. Apple Music Hall doubles as a full production facility, with two professional recording and mix studios and wiring for 16 or more cameras feeding a dedicated broadcast control room, which can run iPhone video capture alongside traditional broadcast cameras. The idea is that an artist can play one intimate show and walk away with a finished Spatial Audio recording, a broadcast-ready mix and multicamera video.

Why it matters for fans here

Australians are unlikely to be queueing on the Thames any time soon, but Apple says performances will be livestreamed globally, so fans anywhere can watch these one-off shows. It is a clear signal of where Apple sees Apple Music heading: less a streaming library, more a destination for exclusive live moments.

"We're always looking for new opportunities to connect the artists and the fans because we are fans," said Zane Lowe, Apple Music's global creative director.

Source: Apple Newsroom Australia. Image courtesy of Apple.