Apple Music to open concert venue in Battersea
The tech giant has built its own concert hall, but says its not in competition with small venues.
Apple Music is set to launch a concert venue in Battersea
The venue will be located on the north side of the former power station, with views across the Thames
The US tech company Apple is preparing to open a new, state-of-the-art concert hall in London, positioned beneath its European headquarters at Battersea Power Station.
The 600-capacity space will stage one-off performances by major recording artists and emerging bands, with every show filmed and streamed live online.
Apple Music vice president Oliver Schusser told BBC News that the venue, which is due to open in the coming weeks, has "more cameras and speakers than any venue of its size, anywhere in the world".
The launch comes as London’s live music sector comes under severe strain, with 45 venues shutting in the capital last year alone.
It reflects a wider national pattern: between 2020 and 2025, as living costs rose and people changed their post-Covid lifestyles, around 400 clubs in Britain closed.
London’s closure rate is higher than the rest of the country, meaning the arrival of a well-funded tech company could worry independent venue operators.
However, Schusser said the new project was not intended to take customers away.
"We're not trying to be in the live business. We're not trying to compete with anyone.
"We're going to run the venue like a venue, with tickets and everything, but the sole purpose for us is to do great work with artists, to connect artists with fans, and to broadcast the content on Apple Music.
"We have really no interest in trying to be in the way of anyone else, and that's one of the main reasons it's a smaller space."
The venue has been built so artists can set up the stage for anything from large-scale televised productions to intimate acoustic performances
Artists will enter the stage after passing photographs from previous Apple Music concerts
The venue, called Apple Music Hall, represents the company’s return to London nine years after it ended the popular iTunes Festival, which featured acts including Lady Gaga, Elton John, Britney Spears and Adele in free concerts at venues such as Koko and The Roundhouse.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy praised the move, describing it as "a huge vote of confidence in the UK as a global creative powerhouse" and "a signal of just how strong our creative sectors really are".
Information about the opening act is expected soon.
It is a compact, intimate venue, with fluted vaults and brick-lined walls that reflect the Art Deco style of the former power station. But echo should not be a problem - even the bricks were specially chosen to absorb reflected sound.
The stage is 38-foot long and can be arranged for both "in the round" and more conventional front-facing performances, while the dressing rooms include en-suite showers and dedicated costume storage areas.
The building also houses new studios for Apple Music’s radio stations, which will relocate from their current base in King’s Cross, along with dedicated spaces for DJ mixes, writing camps and band rehearsals.
The entire building is wired for video and audio, allowing artists to arrive, record a podcast, appear on a radio show, and live-stream a gig all in the same day.
Apple hopes that producing custom content will help set its service apart from rivals such as Spotify and Amazon Music.
The move follows comments from legendary music mogul Jimmy Iovine, who said music streaming services were "minutes away from being obsolete", because they do not create a connection between the listener and the music.
"It's one dimensional. It's an ATM machine," said Iovine, who has worked with everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Tupac Shakur, in an interview this February.
"The artists want to communicate with their fans, period. That's what they want.
"Not for philanthropic reasons, but this is what TikTok does. That's what Instagram does."
Dressing rooms and green rooms have been designed to match the aesthetic of Battersea Power Station
Schusser, who has worked at Apple for 21 years, including the period from 2014-2018 when Iovine served as a creative consultant, agreed.
"We want our music services not just to be an anonymous place on the internet where you press a button and music starts playing.
"For most artists, it's kind of sad in streaming. There's nothing for them to do. The music gets delivered by the labels, and then it's a bunch of playlists.
"But [fans] want to have a chance to meet the artists, know more about the artists, understand why they made an album the way they made it."
Schusser said Apple also hoped to support new and upcoming bands who might otherwise find it hard to break through, as listening habits stagnate.
"It's one of the biggest opportunities and challenges we have in the music business right now.
"There are too many artists who rely on [their back] catalogue. Catalogue music is great, but we need to make sure we have a new era of catalogue music in 10, 20, years from now."