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Amy Thomson, Mathew Knowles, Hardwell To Speak At Mdlbeast XP
The XP Music Futures conference will return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for its second edition, Nov. 28-30. Promoter Mdlbeast just confirmed the first five of this year’s keynote speakers.
Former Destiny’s Child manager Mathew Knowles will talk about building longevity in a career in a session titled “Reinvention & Relevance.” Amy Thomson, widely regarded as one of the most forward-thinking and trustworthy characters in the business, who has been fighting for the fair representation of musicians and creators at Hipgnosis, the largest independent song fund in the world, will be hosting a session titled “Fair Pay & Fair Play: Understanding Music Royalties.”
See: Mdlbeast Soundstorm & XP Conference Return To Riyadh
Hardwell will host a session labeled “Wellness for the Constantly Creative Mind,” an informal one-on-one conversation, in which the star DJ will shed light on his mental health struggles and how he’s managing his mental health since his return to the music industry. Looking forward to his session, Hardwell commented, “Music is my biggest passion in life. I’m excited to share my experience and have meaningful discussions at XP Music Futures with Arab youth and upcoming talent around mental health in the music industry and its significance for the industry overall.”
Another artist speaking at XP is singer, songwriter, and performer of Palestinian-Chilean descent, Elyanna, who will speak about her professional journey, and crossing-over Arabic music to a bigger, international stage, in her own words, “in hopes to strengthen the connection artists have to their Arabic identity.”
The fifth confirmed keynote speaker is Jeddah-based rapper and hip-hop musician Lil Eazy, who has gained popularity across the region, cutting through a dense market of Saudi-based rappers. The artist will host a session titled “Creating a Hit Song: Formula Vs.Trend” with the intention of sharing his personal expertise and successes with young artists.
Nada Alhelabi, director of XP Music Conference, commented, “For a second year running, we will discuss and gain mission-critical insight into the opportunities and challenges of accelerating the regional creative music scene we have today. Insights from last year told us attendees enjoyed XP’s programming and speaker selection the most. This year we aim to build on our previous success, giving our attendees a line-up of visionary speakers reflective of the advances and changes our industry is seeing today.”
Just like last year, XP Music Futures will kickstart Mdlbeast’s Soundstorm festival, Dec. 1-3.