Abbey Road Studios’ managing director Sally Davies has discussed the growing influence of their Studio Four brand and her role in shaping the U.K. music industry’s response to AI.
During SXSW London 2026, the famed studios brought Studio Four — their series of panels and workshops — across from St Johns Wood to Shoreditch in east London for a second consecutive year.
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Although best known as the recording space for The Beatles, Pink Floyd and more, Abbey Road Studios is engaged with wider disciplines beyond music recording. In May 2025, they reopened the refurbished Studio One with a dance performance soundtracked by Daniel Pemberton [Project Hail Mary, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse] and the space regularly hosts the prestigious Music Photography Awards.
Appearing as part of the festival’s wider programming, Studio Four used the opportunity to showcase the breadth of Abbey Road’s offerings. Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson appeared to discuss his creative process, while the team behind The Lord of the Rings’ iconic score revealed the technological changes over the past 25 years.
Davies, too, has expanded her role beyond just the Studios and in January was named the AI champion for the creative industries in a role that sees her lead the conversation among the industry and feedback to the U.K. government. On Monday (June 8), Davies published a report that called for greater assurances for human creatives, clearer education and confidence for users and concluded that “AI should support human creativity, not displace it.”
Following the wrap of Studio Four’s events, Davies discussed the prevailing topics at the event and the publication of the AI Adoption Plan sent to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
What were the big takeaways from Studio Four at SXSW London 2026?
Last year was the first time we’d taken Studio Four out to a public audience and everything at [the venue] Colours was absolutely packed, which left us thinking that there’s a real sense of love and trust in the brand — people are generally interested in what we have to say about creativity and technology. This year we moved into a much bigger space at 93 Feet East so we tripled our footprint and that gave much more space where people could mingle, network, chat, decompress after the panels and share thoughts. It was buzzing.
Were there any familiar themes that came through in each panel or discussion?
We had quite a lot of programming in the creative lane, particularly on music, dance, photography, as well as a really strong tech track. You sit in those sessions and see examples of AI that are incredibly brilliant in front of a creative community, especially at a time when everyone’s talking about AI, and the conversation can become very negative very quickly. But I left Studio Four feeling buoyant that creativity has a place and that AI is not going to destroy the heart of creativity, but can be additive to the process.
Were you expecting AI to be a focus?
I think so. Earlier this year, I was really privileged to be offered the AI champion role for the creative sectors, and I’ve really been trying to do meaningful work in that area because the consultation with the sector last year was tough. Our sector was incredibly emotive in its response and that’s to be expected given the intensity of the creative process and because the topic of AI is so personal to human identity, creativity, integrity, trust. But I really wanted to add a pragmatic lens to it, instead of having this debate whether AI is inherently good or bad. What I can do to help is have a very pragmatic conversation with people at the coalface across all the creative sectors, and work out how do we get closer to what is the reality of adoption
Touching on that consultation, do you think we’ve turned a corner now that the opt-out approach has been put to one side and there’s a focus on licensing instead?
From a creative industry standpoint I’m feeling a lot more comfortable than I did, but we still have some way to go. There needs to be dialogue between the DCMS and industry and I want to be that bridge. I’m hosting these regular meetings with the industry, and I’m not expecting anyone to have a final position on how they feel about AI, but at the very least, let us compare notes, so that we can sit around the table across the whole sector and have a really open and honest conversation as to how are each of us grappling with this.
If you look at gaming, adoption is far more advanced than gaming in the other sectors, so I think there’s a lot of cross-pollination, sharing, peer-to-peer learning that I’m hoping to sort of stimulate in that process. Demystifying it will help us get a little bit more comfortable that some of these tools are actually super helpful.
What does Studio Four really say about the work Abbey Road is doing?
Studio Four has really captured the breadth of our ambition: Abbey Road today is not what Abbey Road was previously. We are not just a studio and I think we’re really bringing that to life in Studio Four where you see us sit very comfortably in the intersection of tech and creativity. People assume we’re just music, but we’re photography, music, film scores, gaming, fashion and dance, and you really see that in Studio Four.
On the tech front, we have [technology service] Audiomovers and all of our incubators. We’re talking about AI and we know it is a topic that creatives can find really uncomfortable, but let’s try and bring some comfort to it and break down the stigma. I think creatives feel like if they’re using AI then they’re cheating and I really want us to try and demystify some of that.
Why has Abbey Road stepped up and become such a respected voice in that conversation?
We have a lot of gravitas when we talk about it and that comes from trust. We are in the room when music is being made and creativity is being shaped, so hopefully we can use that trust in a way that’s positive for the industry. We don’t want to stop creating brilliant work. The U.K. is the third largest creative economy in the world. We punch above our weight from a population standpoint and it blows my mind to think we’re a population of 70 million and we are the third largest creative economy… but if we want to retain that position we can’t stop waiting for the government to figure out policy, we’ve got to find our way through it, and that’s through adoption.
War Child’s charity album HELP(2) was largely recorded at Abbey Road. What was that experience like?
From a cause perspective it is a really important one. We said we’ll open our doors and literally, whatever you need, we are here to support. That was a really easy conversation. Actually seeing the artists and the children come in, you can’t help but feel that you’re doing a really good thing. I’m really happy we were able to do our bit, I’m really happy we were able to support and have that calibre of talent in our studio is always a privilege. We never take that stuff for granted.
Whether Arctic Monkeys who had a great time or Olivia Rodrigo who was in for it, it’s always great to have such global talent all coming together to do something brilliant. It’s just one of those heart-warming moments, really.
What’s next for you and Abbey Road?
We’re going to be putting recommendations for AI to DCMS which is really important. We’ve got some really exciting announcements to come in the consumer electronics space. The lead time for this stuff is typically two years, but we’re on the brink of signing something really exciting there. I’m super excited at this idea that Abbey Road will be elevating people’s experience of sound in their pockets, in their homes, in a way that you’ve never seen before. Studio Four was the first time we have stepped out of St Johns Wood, and this will be the first time that we go into the consumer lane and elevate that sort of listening experience for fans.
