MENA conference XP Music Futures returns this December

Organised by MDLBEAST Foundation, XP Music Futures seeks to foster a thriving music community and industry in the MENA region.

Running under the theme Flourish, the three-day conference will host day and night programming including fireside chats, keynotes, panel discussions and fishbowls and showcases featuring local and international talent.

According to the organisers, this year’s discussions will centre on four areas identified as key to building a successful music career, namely talent, scene, impact and innovation.

The event will feature a variety of local and international industry experts who will share their knowledge with the audience. Previous speakers at the conference include American producer and label owner Don Cannon and Lebanese-British event promoter and record label founder Nicole Moudaber as well as artists like DJ Khaled, Cosmicat, Fat Joe and David Guetta, among others.

This year, XP Music Futures will once again play host to a number of exciting initiatives aimed at supporting artists and other music professionals, including XPerform, XChange, Hunna, Storm Shaker, the Artist Management Bootcamp and Sound Futures.

XPerform provides a chance for unsigned regional artists to perform at the conference, with those who impress earning a chance to grow their careers with MDLBEAST Records.

XChange tackles the latest issues in the region’s music industry and curates a series of workshops that take place in different cities ahead of the XP conference. The key objective of the workshops is to have experts dive into XP’s pillar themes to identify hot topics for the conference programme, and to give an opportunity for community building. XChange will also host a series of touring workshops in Kuwait, Tunisia and Riyadh ahead of the main XP conference.

Hunna, derived from the Arabic plural for ‘she’, is a women-led initiative seeking to amplify female talents while providing a sanctuary for women in the MENA music industry. Hunna provides essential support for personal and professional development, seeking to challenge and transform outdated and inequitable systems prevalent in different societies.

Storm Shaker, meanwhile, is a DJ competition featuring participants from the MENA region and beyond, while the Artist Management Bootcamp is a hybrid two-week programme to equip aspiring artist managers with the skills and knowledge needed to navigate the music industry. The programme aims to cultivate a new generation of successful artist managers through a curriculum covering a broad range of topics. It aims to elevate the music industry by empowering managers to effectively support artists in achieving their career goals while ensuring sustainable success for everyone involved.

Sound Futures will invite musicians and innovators to pitch their ideas to music industry investors, with the goal of securing funding and mentorship for their careers.