Art & Culture

XP Music Futures 2025 Showed Us What a Real Music Industry Looks Like in the Region

BYZamzam Rage

December 10, 2025

XP Music Futures 2025 closed out its three-day run in Riyadh this weekend, and the energy still feels like it’s hanging in the air. Now in its fifth year, the conference once again turned JAX District into a playground for music makers, industry pros, and curious fans.

For three days, attendees dove into workshops, panels, and hands-on sessions covering DJing, production, wellness, sonic identity, and emerging music tech. The event wasn’t just about learning—it was about connecting, experimenting, and imagining what’s next for the region’s music scene.

Across workshops, panels, and late-night conversations that bled into early mornings, XP felt less like a conference and more like a creative checkpoint. DJing, production, sonic identity, wellness, emerging music tech—every corner of the schedule asked the same question: what does a future-proof music scene here actually look like? And more importantly, who gets to shape it?

One session in particular—“5 Years XChange Riyadh & XP Zine,” led by Saheera and Tanya Awad—traced workshops from Riyadh to Qatar to Bahrain, mapping out how each city has been quietly building its own micro-movements while borrowing, remixing, and learning from each other.

Talal, COO and Head of Music at MDLBEAST, summed up the mood of the weekend with the kind of clarity only someone who’s seen the full arc can have. “What excites me the most is watching the younger generation embrace music not just as a hobby, but as a real, sustainable career. They’re lucky to grow up surrounded by world-class events, creative spaces, and opportunities that simply didn’t exist before,” he said. And he’s right. This is the first generation coming of age with actual infrastructure, real mentorship, and world-class stages within reach.

The conference also celebrated standout achievements. Jafar Amin won the 2025 XPERFORM season four, and Radish.world took the fifth edition of Storm Shaker, both earning spots at Soundstorm Festival 2025 and marking major milestones in their emerging careers.

More than anything, XP 2025 reinforced a shift that’s been quietly underway: music in Saudi Arabia—and across the region—is no longer treated like a side hustle. It’s becoming a legitimate industry, with pipelines, support systems, and a community that’s learning how to champion its own. Between the packed workshops, the hallway debates, and the sense of collective ambition, the event made one thing obvious: the Middle East’s music wave isn’t coming, it’s already here.

And with MDLBEAST already sketching out XP 2026, the momentum shows no signs of slowing. The next chapter feels bigger, louder, and even more experimental. Exactly how it should be.

XP Music Futures 2025 Showed Us What a Real Music Industry Looks Like in the Region

Suggestions

Articles

Topics

XP Music Futures 2025 Showed Us What a Real Music Industry Looks Like in the Region

Related Stories

More From Art & Culture

Suggestions

Articles

Topics

Newsletter

The only newsletter you won't unsubscribe from

Follow Us