Female Representation Among Core Discussions at XP Music Futures Conference in Riyadh

The Middle East and North Africa region has been steadily making its mark in the global music arena for decades now, with Arabic-language music finding not just local but also worldwide audiences. The second edition of XP Music Futures — taking place from December 7th to 9th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — seeks to initiate new discussions about where the region’s music is going and what’s next.

While the lineup of speakers and performers is yet to be announced for XP Music Futures conference, the inaugural 2022 edition hosted over 2,500 guests and speakers such as David Guetta, Hardwell and former Swedish House Mafia manager, Amy Thompson. Organized by music entertainment company MDLBEAST, XP Music Futures also takes place quite close to their music festival Soundstorm, which also takes place in Riyadh in December this year.

The conference is introducing new initiatives with an eye on inclusivity in the MENA region. In addition to sessions and workshops in Arabic, music tech showcases, there’s the women-centric mentorship program HUNNA. A press release for the conference describes it to be “designed as a platform and safe space for women in the music industry to gain the necessary mentorship to develop their skills and careers, while also collectively disrupting the outdated and non-equitable systems in the music industry at large.”

Boasting about having 44 percent women in its speaker lineup in 2022, XP Music Futures is doubling down with HUNNA, where artists from MENA can sign up for a three-month mentorship, followed by discussion panels at the conference. The speakers will be “focusing on difficult yet necessary conversations at this year’s conference, such as female representation and equity in music spaces,” the press release says.

There’s also a focus on vocalists in MENA via the conference’s XPerform platform, which was won by Saudi vocalist Asayel last year. Another focus in the scope of XP Music Futures is XP Presents and this year the conference will analyze South Korea’s pop culture, including K-pop, K-dramas, and Korean films.

In the run-up to the conference in December, MDLBEAST are teaming up with local companies in different countries to host workshop and showcase performances as part of XChange. With one in Cairo, Egypt set to take place on May 26th, the next XChange is slated for June 9th in Amman, Jordan. A press release says, “It allows the team to get an even better insight into each local scene and to tailor XP Music Future’s program to the wishes and needs of the whole region to offer the best quality of sessions and workshops during the annual 3-day conference in Riyadh.”