XP Music Futures and YouTube collaborate to support Saudi’s music industry and emerging talent in the middle east

XP Music Futures, one of MDLBEAST flagship events, the Saudi music entertainment company, and YouTube announced today their partnership in support of Saudi Arabia’s music industry and emerging artists from the Middle East.

The partnership will see YouTube sponsor the XPERFORM initiative, which aims to discover and nurture emerging musical talent in the Middle East. YouTube will also run a boot camp to help artists reach a wider audience using YouTube’s multiple formats. The partnership comes as part of YouTube’s efforts to support Saudi Arabia’s music & entertainment industry and emerging artists.

XP Music Futures, the 3-day  annual conference on 7, 8 & 9 Dec, Riyadh KSA, launched XPERFORM in 2022, a music competition for vocalists. The competition allows applicants to share their vocal talent  and the opportunity to potentially grow their music careers with MDLBEAST Records, the company’s record label arm which produces and distributes music by local, regional, and international artists.

YouTube offers a platform for emerging artists from across Saudi Arabia to share their vocal talents with the world using different formats, including long-form, Shorts, or live streams. Globally, YouTube surpassed 80 million Music & Premium subscribers including trailers and over 2 billion logged in viewers watch a music video each month on YouTube as of June 2020.

YouTube’s multiple formats are also supporting musicians & musical artists. In January 2023, fan-created Shorts increased the average artist’s audience of unique viewers by more than 80% globally. Meaning that fans on Shorts are nearly doubling an artist’s total reach, so artists can spend more time doing what they do best: making great music.  YouTube also shared that in January 2023, artists active on Shorts saw more than 50% of their new channel subscribers coming directly from their Shorts posts on average.

“We are thrilled to partner with YouTube on XPERFORM this year,  to discover and nurture the next generation of musical talent in the Middle East,” said Nada Alhelabi,  XP Music Futures Director. 

“This initiative aligns with our mission to create opportunities for artists and showcase the vibrant music scene in the region.”

Commenting on the partnership, Liliana Abudalo, The MENA head of YouTube Music said “We’re excited about our partnership with XPERFORM and the opportunity to support the music industry in Saudi Arabia, whether labels, music artists or producers. We know that YouTube is where creators make the deepest connections with their audience at scale: creators including artists tell us that the relationships they build with their fans here are deeper, more lasting, and more meaningful than anywhere else. We hope that through the multiple formats, YouTube has to offer more music artists in the Kingdom can reach a wider audience” 

XPERFORM applications will open between April 30th and May 20th. The top 25 applicants will be invited for a live audition day on June 25th, at the Music Hub, a music educational center part of the Music Commission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The selected contestants will be tasked to sing acapella or with an instrument in front of the 5 XPERFORM judges. The judges will then select the top 10 contestants, who will participate in an exclusive boot camp that involves one-to-one coaching from YouTube on how to utilize and reach a wider audience using YouTube’s multiple formats including Shorts, Livestream, and long form content. The boot camp will also help coach the artists on channel optimization to increase their reach on YouTube and how best to prepare for the next stage of the competition.

The 10 finalists will then go through a popularity contest on YouTube Shorts where the audience will be able to vote for their favorite contestant via Shorts to help the judges decide on the top 5 contestants who will perform at XP Music Futures. This collaboration between XP Music Futures and YouTube will provide aspiring musicians with an opportunity to showcase their talent and connect with both a local and a global audience.

The Saudi singer, Asayel was discovered through XPERFORM in its ‘22 edition and has signed with MDLBEAST Records.