In just five years, XP Music Futures has gone from an experimental industry gathering in Riyadh to one of the most influential cultural platforms in the Middle East. What began as a conference-meets-party is now something closer to policy engine meets taste-making machine. It’s a place where governments, artists, and startups all negotiate what the future of Arab music should sound like. And for the 2025 edition, running from Dec. 4 to 6, it sounds Palestinian.
Among the first announced headliners are Palestinian-Jordanian rising star Zeyne, American-Palestinian singer Lina Makoul, and genre-bending composer Aziz Maraka, joined by Moroccan-French rock outfit Bab L’ Bluz, Emirati icon Shamma Hamdan, and DJ duo Moontalk. It’s a musically diverse lineup, but the cultural signal is sharper than ever.
At a time when Palestinian artists across Europe and the U.S. are being disinvited from festivals, shadowbanned online, or asked to “keep politics separate from music,” XP is doing the opposite: placing them front and center. And not as symbolic guests, but as headliners.
But XP isn’t relying on symbolism alone. Alongside its musical programming, the platform continues to expand initiatives like HUNNA, a mentorship network for women in music, and Hearful, a hearing-health campaign developed with Arabtone.
Now in its fifth year, the 2025 edition is designed as XP’s most expansive yet, bringing together panels, policy discussions, talent contests, tech showcases, wellness initiatives, and three nights of live showcases under one banner. Over the years, XP’s signature daytime-to-nighttime format has matured: knowledge by day, nightlife by night. The daytime now hosts Artist Management bootcamps, startup investment matchmaking (Sound Futures), and the semi-finals of PWR CHORD, XPERFORM, and Storm Shaker. The nighttime belongs to the labels, the independents, the kids with USB sticks and something to say at 3 a.m.
For those looking to be part of it rather than watch from afar, early bird tickets are already live via NOFOMO. The event runs December 4–6, 2025 in Riyadh, and if previous editions are any indication, passes will sell out long before the full lineup drops.
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