Apple Opens First Public Performance Venue Inside Battersea Power Station

Apple has unveiled Apple Music Hall, a 600-capacity performance venue carved from the interiors of Battersea Power Station in southwest London — the company's first publicly accessible performance venue anywhere in the world.

The space is the result of a multi-million-pound development with the codename Project Apollo, five years in the making. It marks the bricks-and-mortar arrival of Apple's tech and entertainment business in the live music sector, two decades after the iTunes Festival (later the Apple Music Festival) launched a 10-year run of London concerts.

'When designing Apple Music Hall, we wanted to take inspiration from Battersea Power Station while ensuring it features all of the design hallmarks that make it a distinctly Apple space,' says Kristina Raspe, Vice President, Apple Places. 'Combining the heritage brick with the new fluted arches and bronze balconies pays tribute to both the building's history and Apple's design aesthetic, and seamlessly integrating cutting-edge technology is what Apple does best.'

She adds: 'This combination has created a truly special venue which will connect artists and fans better than ever before.'

What the venue contains

The venue is purpose-built with fans and artists in mind — including those not physically present on the southern bank of the River Thames. Audiences get a club-size room that combines intimacy with a 48-speaker sound system delivering Spatial Audio quality, unimpeded sightlines, and architectural detailing in brickwork, fluted arches and black iron that reflects the Art Deco design of the century-old power station. Sixteen hardwired cameras allow shows to be captured for high-quality live recording and global livestream.

For artists, the venue is adaptive. The 38-foot stage is fully modular, configurable for traditional front-facing sets or in-the-round shows positioned in the middle of the floor. Audiences can be all-seated, all-standing, on bleachers, or any combination.

Backstage facilities include capacious dressing rooms for bands and crews with penthouse apartment-style views over Battersea Power Station's shopping and dining galleries. Apple Music Radio's London studios have relocated from Kings Cross to brand-new Apple Music Studios in Battersea, which also houses the offices of Apple's European HQ. Touring talent now have a single destination for radio sessions, concerts, broadcast events, one-off underplay gigs and launch celebrations. The setup builds on Apple's LA Radio Studio.

Why London, and why now

'We've always thought, wouldn't it be great if we had our own venue?' says Oliver Schusser, Apple's vice president of Apple Music and international content, who originally conceived the iTunes Festival while based in London. The timing came down to real estate and opportunity: 'we have moved Apple's European headquarters into Battersea Power Station. And there was an opportunity inside the power station a couple of years back to do something absolutely incredible – both from a location point-of-view, but more importantly also from a technology point-of-view.'

Schusser, who lived in the UK for 15 years, calls London 'the global capital of live music,' citing 'the diversity of the artists you have, but also the passion of the fans to go to shows, large and small.'

The venue's ability to host club-level shows and beam them to global audiences is central to Apple's vision. 'It's important for us to help and provide smaller artists with a smaller space, that has state-of-the-art technology and is really plug-and-play,' Schusser says. 'You can come in, do an interview with [Apple Music Radio DJ] Matt Wilkinson, get your photography and social media done, play a show [and] broadcast worldwide, and get a high-quality Spatial Audio recording out of it. That's a phenomenal setup for artists to do great work.'

The economics of live music

Schusser acknowledges the pressures facing grassroots UK venues. 'There's plenty of bands that are struggling because touring has become incredibly expensive, and for a lot of artists is unaffordable,' he says. 'So our goal is to empower artists to make sure they make enough money from what we do, and to let them do what they do best, which is make music and be on the road and connect with fans.'

The UK Government has taken notice of the investment. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called Apple Music Hall a 'huge vote of confidence in the UK as a global creative powerhouse. When a company of Apple's scale backs British music and talent, it's a signal of just how strong our creative sectors really are. Our industrial strategy is all about making Britain one of the best places in the world to invest, and the creative industries are a key part of that. These sectors are not only a source of immense national pride, but they also deliver real economic value for the country.'

Schusser would not give details on ticket pricing or the opening lineup of artists. 'Very soon,' he says. 'But you're not going to be disappointed. You're going to love it.'

Built for Spatial Audio and iPhone cameras

Two technical choices define the venue's design. 'We've developed Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos as a new sound standard that takes us from stereo to a much better experience. This venue is optimised for that,' Schusser explains. 'It allows artists not only to record in Spatial Audio but to perform in it, which is really cool and unique.'

The second: content will be shot largely on iPhones. 'Because they're much smaller cameras, you can put them in many more places, and you can use more of them. So we've optimised the space to use technology for the audience to visually experience.'

The flexibility extends to the programming itself. 'The way the space is set up, you can bring in a stadium show and have a miniature version in front of 600 people,' Schusser says. 'It's really set up in the most flexible way.'

Details on tickets and upcoming shows are available at AppleMusicMall.com and via @applemusichall. Whether Apple extends the model beyond Battersea remains open: asked in 2024 about a potential Beats-branded festival, Schusser replied, 'I would never rule anything out… But we want to be where music and culture is. That's definitely our place.'