Apple has opened Apple Music Hall, a 600-capacity live music and production venue inside London’s Battersea Power Station, expanding the technology company’s presence in music beyond streaming with a space designed for concerts, professional audio recording, video production and global livestreaming.
Announced on Sept. 21, the venue combines an intimate concert setting with production infrastructure typically associated with larger-scale performances. Artists will be able to perform for a live audience while simultaneously capturing professional audio and multicamera video from the same show.
From Live Performance to Finished Production
Apple Music Hall features a 38-foot-wide configurable stage and a 48-speaker spatial sound system positioned around the audience. The stage can support conventional front-facing performances as well as configurations that place audiences around performers.
Behind the stage, two dedicated recording and mixing studios allow performances to be captured as multitrack recordings and mixed in Spatial Audio, either during the event or afterward.
The venue is also wired to accommodate 16 or more cameras, connected to a purpose-built broadcast control room. Its infrastructure allows footage captured on iPhones to be incorporated alongside traditional broadcast cameras.
That setup means a single concert can generate several forms of content: a live audience experience, a finished Spatial Audio recording, a broadcast-ready audio mix and multicamera video.
Apple said performances from the venue will also be livestreamed globally, extending shows beyond the 600 people who can attend in person.
Apple Expands Its Music Infrastructure
The project builds on Apple’s long-running involvement in the music industry, from the iPod and iTunes to Apple Music and its earlier iTunes Music Festival.
“Apple’s deep love for music dates all the way back to the very beginning,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and International Content, as the company announced the venue.
Apple Music Hall also gives the company physical infrastructure connecting several parts of the music business — live performance, recording, audiovisual production, broadcasting and digital distribution — within a single location.
The venue itself reflects its setting inside the historic Battersea Power Station, incorporating heritage brickwork, fluted arches and bronze balconies, as well as a large glass wall overlooking the building’s concourse and the River Thames.
Apple has also opened new Apple Music Radio studios at Battersea, from which its London-based hosts and programs will broadcast live.
The company said information about tickets and upcoming performances will be released through Apple Music Hall’s channels.
