The conference, at Dubai's Pacha spin-off, will tackle promoting a great dance event, owning a club, promotion on social media and more
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XP Music Futures conference gears up for sequel
The most forward-thinking gathering of music leaders in the Middle East region returns to Riyadh from 28-30 November
By IQ on 13 Jun 2022
XP Music Futures is set to return to Riyadh from 28-30 November as the most forward-thinking gathering of music leaders in the region.
One of the most exciting developments taking place in Saudi Arabia has been the emergence of a vibrant music industry. There is immense opportunity and talent present today ready to hit stages and share their sounds worldwide. Studies show that the MEA music market is expected to grow by up to 16.5% by 2027, reaching $670.03 million – and MDLBeast, a Saudi music entertainment company, is playing a significant role in supporting this growth.
At the core of this musical and cultural transformation is XP Music Futures – MDLBeast’s music conference, set to take place for its second edition from 28-30 November 2022. As the warm-up to Saudi’s seismic weekend EDM festival, Soundstorm (taking place 1-3 December), XP will once again attract many of the most exciting young, up-and-coming talent from across the region and around the world, plus a packed guestlist of globally respected artists, producers, and music makers.
Last year’s breakout year in 2021, saw over 4,500 attendees, all of which had one key purpose, to grow and build the regional music infrastructure, with a focus across four central pillars: Talent, Scene, Impact and Innovation touchpoints considered vital to further establishing and building greater regional infrastructure around artists and the wider music ecosystem.
If we look at the “Impact” pillar a little closer, we can see a focus on the positive reach of music culture wider into communities and other areas such as wellbeing, equality, and sustainability. Energetic activations included fishbowl sessions and passionate panel discussions covering the means of hosting safe events in collaboration with public health institutions, several empowering stories of female musicians in emerging markets, and the building of an environmentally sustainable touring model within the Middle East music industry, and much more.
Today, we catch up with multi-media artist, actor and professor, Yassin “Narcy” Alsalman; entrepreneur Lindi Delight, founder of De Light Management; Lutz Leichsenring, co-founder of VibeLab; and Jane Slingo, director at VibeLab, to talk us through their experience at XP 2021, and the elements they believe were needed to create impact in the music industry and beyond…
“It was very inspiring to see the showcased artists and collectives perform in their own city, some for the very first time”
Talking about experiencing XP for the first time…
Lindi Delight: At certain times, it felt very emotional and humbling. I had no expectations traveling to Saudi to attend XP, however, I was truly blown away by the nationals. Their generosity and openness and welcoming nature was incredible to experience. Even better, it was amazing to see so many women at the music conference ready to begin the work needed to develop the music industry for themselves, and others, either as artists or music industry professionals. During the night program of the conference, I visited the different stages to discover the local talent performing. It was very inspiring to see the showcased artists and collectives perform in their own city, some for the very first time. I would never have thought that I would ever witness such a music scene in Saudi Arabia in my lifetime, let alone contribute to its growth and development. It was an honour and I’m excited of being part of this year’s programming team.”
The audience believed that they are the drivers of societal change…
Lutz Leichsenring: “The first thing I noticed is the participants’ appreciation and enthusiasm to learn and discuss different aspects of the Impact pillar during our fishbowl sessions.”
Lindi: “After each of the sessions I was involved in, many young women came over to speak with me about what they learned, and how exciting it was for them to see international industry professionals travel to Saudi to share their experiences and insights in efforts to advance the music scene. They were very pleased to know there was room for them in the industry as well – highlighting the importance of equality and empowering stories of female artists.”
“We need to pass down the codes to the youth now, not later”
Education and mentorship are key aspects to have the aspired Impact…
Yassin “Narcy” Alsalman: “We need to pass down the codes to the youth now, not later. This will activate the cultural space in a unique and non-conformist way. Most of the time, in the region, there seems to be a transactional relationship around gatekeeping the industry. We need to break that down and just mentor youth, empower through confidence all while building new, fresh infrastructure and representation outside of the region.”
Jane Slingo: “The developed music world is going through a process of ‘unlearning’ practices and systems that don‘t support a thriving, and sustainable music ecosystem. Impact through XP has a significant opportunity to build this new music ecosystem with diverse representation and support for the mental well-being of creators and workers at the forefront. When the industry has diverse representation and well-supported mental health, the more exciting and respected, the more profitable it is. To achieve this, the focus should be on authentic international exchange, willingness for change, and a commitment to applying the learnings from other countries’ failures to the development of the local industry.”
“XP is evolving and adapting to the topics that are relevant to today’s industry ecosystem”
On the promotion of impact in MENA…
Narcy: “I believe that it could be achieved through regional grant systems like models in parts of Europe and Canada. The youth would benefit from artistic funding, a way to sustain themselves outside of general systems of funding art projects. This would be groundbreaking for the youth in the MENA region.”
Lutz: “I believe that it needs efforts from the top-down and bottom-up to promote Impact.”
Wrapping up the talk with a sneak peek into the XP 2022…
Lindi: “We have created a forward-thinking and diverse program for the next edition of XP that we’re all excited about. This includes a wide range of topics such as sustainability, Web3, the Metaverse, immersive technology, music policies, professionalisation, music production, data collection, and analytics to name a few. XP is evolving and adapting to the topics that are relevant to today’s industry ecosystem – this is what we need for the music scene in Saudi and around the world. We will also be introducing sessions in Arabic to increase the engagement of the local community. We aim to captivate the minds of the audience with thought-provoking insights, and future-proof careers through robust knowledge transfer from regional and international industry experts to existing and aspiring music industry professionals.”
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