Hans Zimmer is part of a group that has bought the BBC’s storied Maida Vale recording studio, apparently saving it from closure. The BBC did not disclose the sale price in its official announcement, but reports indicate that the group paid £10.5 million (about $13.325 million).
Maida Vale went up for sale in 2018, prompting Nigel Godrich, Geoff Barrow, and many other artists to pressure the BBC to reconsider. The west London studio has, for decades, hosted illustrious artists including David Bowie, Beyoncé, and Led Zeppelin, who would typically record sessions to air on BBC radio and sometimes repackage them later for wide release, either as standalone records—à la the recent Broadcast set—or appended to reissues as bonus tracks. To what degree the studio will remain intact in its current form remains to be seen.
Zimmer bought Maida Vale with his business partner, Steven Kofsky, and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, the co-chairmen of the British film studio Working Title Films. According to the BBC, the building will continue to operate as a studio space. There are also plans to create a nonprofit education facility. The BBC plans to open its own new BBC Music Studios in London’s East Bank in late 2025.
