Apple Music will open a content creation office in Nashville, Tennessee’s historic May Hosiery complex in Wedgewood-Houston, reports The Tennesseean, quoting “officials close to the deal.”
Apple’s music streaming service will have 30,000 square-foot offices, as well as outdoor event space at the historic factory, which is currently being restored. The move is part of Apple’s strategy to expand its country-music brand. Spotify and Pandora have opened Nashville offices in recent years, notes The Tennessean.
In April, Apple Music announced that executive Jay Liepis, a 13-year-veteran at the company, would move to Nashville to head up a team that will be dedicated to being more involved with artists, managers, songwriters and the label community at large.” The move comes as the tech giant embarks on a $1 billion expansion nationwide, with a new campus for up to 15,000 employees in Austin as well as growth at its California and Seattle offices.
Liepis has served as head of U.S. and artist relations at iTunes. Apple will reportedly open an office in Music City, with an eye on closer relations not just with the country music industry but other genres that are increasingly finding a foothold in the city, including rock, pop and hip-hop, as well as the Christian/gospel and Americana communities.
“Jay’s move to Nashville is a reflection of Apple Music’s ongoing investment to our ever-growing and increasingly diverse music community,” Jason Owen, president/CEO of Sandbox Entertainment, which represents Little Big Town and Kelsea Ballerini, told Variety. “It excites me to know that Nashville is a top priority. The expertise that Jay brings from his tenure paired with his long-term relationships with our city makes this move ideal on every level. Plus, he’s an awesome hang.”
Apple’s new Nashville home will be part of a complex of six brick buildings built at the turn of the 20th century that together have 120,000 square feet of space.
Developer AJ Capital Partners renovated the mill with modern heating and electric systems while finalizing the new mix of tenants at 429 Chestnut Street, per The Tennessean.
