‘The Circuit Is Real’: Q’s With Nadia Murtaza, Partner, MD, Bluebird Music Management

Bluebird Music Management is the partnership of Bondioli Entertainment CEO Nadia Murtaza and former Live Nation Middle East MD and former Mirage Promotions MD, Elissa Murtaza.

The live music management agency holds collectively over 40 years of experience with the most prolific artists in the live music industry, with expertise in tour routing, concert promotion, talent booking and concert consultation across Europe, The Middle East, Africa, India and Australia.

Pollstar reached out to Nadia Murtaza to get her invaluable insights into the state of the regional touring market.

Pollstar: Which cities are the next must-play for international tours coming through, and how far off are we from international talent embarking on a fully-fledged Middle East tour leg on their world tours?
Nadia Murtaza: This is a great question. The biggest misconception out there is that the Middle East is limited to just the GCC. Beyond the GCC is North Africa and the Levant, both of which are within the Middle Eastern and Arab bracket.

It is undeniable that Egypts “New Capital” is quickly becoming a must-stop due it’s growing entertainment investment budget and high profile Giza-situated concerts. There are hopes of Beirut, Lebanon, Amman, Jordan, Tel Aviv, Isreal making a return to international live music circuit in the coming year which will be incredibly advantageous in building larger sub-continental Middle East-specific tours.

This is a circuit that has existed for many years but has been hurt by the conflict of the last few years. Doha, Qatar is quickly catching up with its GCC partners in presenting some of the biggest artists in the world.

What would you recommend to promoters when they route their tours?
The Middle East is best played alongside European and Asian tours. At the moment the trend is one-offs and mini tours; the only obstacle stopping the Middle East from having an exclusive region-wide tour is temperature. The GCC Middle East is very hot during the summer, which negates outdoor concerts in countries such as Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE from June to September – with some of the smaller countries losing a majority of their population to extended vacations.

The issue there is that the greater Middle East, including North Africa and the Levant, mimics summer concert trends seen throughout Europe. So, a fully-fledged regional Middle East tour would call for indoor infrastructure and a change in market habits in some of the warmer countries.

It is still ideal to link in with ‘outer-parameter’ countries such as Turkey, Cyprus and Armenia to make the most of a region in close proximity geographically. Historically, Middle Eastern tour legs have existed; but they have been hampered by conflict, politics and changes in financial expectations.

How important is domestic talent to the Middle East’s touring business, and which other event formats are popular right now?
Domestic music has a market, the tours are a smaller scale, with many artists being produced in Egypt and Lebanon. There is a rise in interest for GCC-origin artists, with mini tours around the region, but the profile of home-grown talent still isn’t as strong as that of pop stars out of Lebanon, Egypt or Western International artists. There is a significant amount of focus in harnessing ‘home-grown’ in Saudi Arabia, with significant initiatives to grow a domestic music market sourced entirely out of Saudi Arabia.

Which types of event formats are popular right now?
The event series format is popular right now. Not quite a festival but a time frame dedicated to presenting artists consistently. For example, Saadiyat Nights, which spans over a month.

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