Apple Music to open 600-capacity concert hall at Battersea Power Station

Apple will open a concert hall beneath its European headquarters at Battersea Power Station in London. The 600-capacity Apple Music Hall opens in the coming weeks, hosting one-off shows by major artists and new bands that will be filmed and streamed live.

Oliver Schusser, Apple Music's vice president, told BBC News the hall has "more cameras and speakers than any venue of its size, anywhere in the world".

A venue built for broadcast

BBC News was given an early look in September as finishing touches were applied. The small, intimate space has fluted vaults and brick-lined walls echoing the former power station's Art Deco architecture; even the bricks were chosen to absorb reflected sound.

The stage is 38 feet long and can be configured both "in the round" and for traditional front-facing shows; dressing rooms have en-suite showers and costume storage.

The building also holds new studios for Apple Music's radio stations, which are moving from King's Cross.

A market under pressure

London's live music scene is under strain: 45 venues closed in the capital last year alone, and about 400 British clubs closed between 2020 and 2025. The closure rate in London is higher than elsewhere, so the arrival of a deep-pocketed tech company has worried some independent venue owners.

Schusser said Apple is not trying to take their customers. "We're not trying to be in the live business. We're not trying to compete with anyone," he said, adding that the hall will "run like a venue, with tickets and everything" but exists to work with artists and connect them with fans on Apple Music.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy called the plan "a huge vote of confidence in the UK as a global creative powerhouse". Details of the opening act are expected soon.

Apple's return to London

The hall marks Apple's return to London live music nine years after it scrapped the iTunes Festival, which hosted free shows by Lady Gaga, Elton John, Britney Spears and Adele.

Apple hopes bespoke content will set Apple Music apart from Spotify and Amazon Music. In February, music executive Jimmy Iovine said streaming services were "minutes away from being obsolete", because they do not build a connection between the listener and the music. Schusser agrees that Apple Music should not be "an anonymous place on the internet where you press a button and music starts playing", and that the industry needs "a new era of catalogue music in 10, 20, years from now".