The next big act out of Abbey Road could be an AI startup

Between 1962 and 1970, the Beatles recorded nearly all their singles and albums at London's Abbey Road Studios using one of EMI's innovative REDD mixing consoles. Five decades later, the studio is turning to startups to keep up with the pace of technological change. "We are aware of the studio's heritage of continually tracking technology as it changed over the years," says Jon Eades, innovation manager at Abbey Road Red, the studio's technology incubator, which launched in 2015. Abbey Road Red runs six-month mentoring programmes, giving music-technology startups access to the famous studio's experts and facilities, not to mention a foot in the door with Universal Music, which has owned the complex since buying out EMI in 2012. The third wave of startups graduate in October and their track record is impressive.