Sony's Soneium Partners With IRC App to Revolutionize Fan Engagement via AI-Powered Blockchain
Introduction
The convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology is poised to redefine the relationship between creators and their audiences. In a significant development for the entertainment and crypto sectors, Sony Block Solutions Labs has announced a partnership between its Soneium blockchain and the IRC APP, the official application for Japan’s Idol Runway Collection (IRC). This collaboration aims to transform global fan engagement by leveraging an AI-powered infrastructure to measure and reward on-chain contributions. Launched in January 2025, the Soneium mainnet provides the scalable Layer-2 foundation for this initiative, which seeks to move beyond static digital collectibles toward a dynamic system of measurable fandom. This move aligns with a broader trend in Asia, where companies like Tencent Music and Modhaus's tripleS are pioneering Web3-style fan participation models, demonstrating the substantial economic potential of integrating blockchain technology directly into entertainment ecosystems.
Soneium: Sony's Production-Grade Blockchain Infrastructure
Sony Block Solutions Labs officially launched the Soneium mainnet on January 14, 2025. Designed as a public Layer-2 network utilizing Ethereum’s OP Stack, Soneium inherits the security of the Ethereum mainnet while offering the lower transaction fees and higher throughput necessary for consumer-facing applications. The explicit design goal of Soneium is to support scalable applications for digital communities and creative industries, setting a new standard for production-grade Web3 services focused on entertainment, gaming, and intellectual property protection. By building on this robust infrastructure, Sony positions Soneium not as an experimental platform but as a foundational technology intended for mass adoption within the entertainment sector, providing the technical backbone for high-volume operations like voting systems and reward distributions.
The IRC Partnership: A Blueprint for Measurable Fandom
The partnership centers on integrating the IRC festival’s ecosystem with Soneium’s AI-powered IPFi infrastructure. The IRC, hosted by YOAKE entertainment and held in collaboration with Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC), is Japan’s largest hybrid idol and fashion festival. The 2025 event established its scale, attracting approximately 11,800 attendees and featuring 107 idol groups.
The core of this new engagement model is the IRC mobile app. This AI-powered application evaluates positive, consistent, and supportive posts made by fans on social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter). The measured engagement is then converted into a metric called the “IRC Score.” A key user-friendly feature is that this score is automatically claimed to a user’s on-chain wallet without requiring them to pay gas fees.
This accumulated IRC Score determines a user’s Membership rank, which includes tiers such as Regular, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Each tier unlocks progressively enhanced real-world benefits for the upcoming IRC 2026 event, scheduled for March 15, 2026, in Tokyo. These benefits include early ticket access, priority entry, and invitations to premium venue areas. Furthermore, the system enables an on-chain Fan Vote, allowing fans to directly influence tangible aspects of the IRC 2026 event. YOAKE Entertainment has already announced the first wave of performers for IRC 2026, which includes Nogizaka46.
Asian Entertainment Pioneers: Case Studies in Web3 Adoption
The Soneium and IRC collaboration is part of a larger movement within Asia’s entertainment industry, which has become a trailblazer in developing sophisticated fan participation models that embody Web3 principles.
In South Korea, the girl group tripleS, produced by Modhaus, has integrated blockchain technology as a core revenue engine. The 24-member group’s ecosystem allows fans to use NFTs and utility tokens to influence critical decisions such as unit composition and song selection. Fans purchase NFT objects to gain voting power in the form of Komos tokens within the COSMO app. This creates a system of transparent, participatory governance. This model enabled tripleS to generate revenue exceeding 10 billion KRW ($6.8 million) even before its official debut. The early NFT sales provided crucial cash flow and established a value-sharing model that offers members compensation comparable to that of large companies.
In China, platforms are rapidly adopting superfan-driven community models that resemble Web3 economics, even when not built on a blockchain. HYBE’s expansion through partnerships with Tencent Music and Alibaba demonstrates how direct messaging services, authenticated merchandise, and integrated fan services can create ownership-like engagement. Tencent Music’s superfan ecosystem illustrates this shift vividly. Its Bubble service has surpassed 2.3 million paying subscribers. Events like G-DRAGON’s Macau shows, which drew 36,000 attendees and 7 million simultaneous online viewers, prove the power of hybrid fan engagement. Through merchandise, tiered subscriptions, and long-form audio content, China is building a multi-channel superfan economy that is structurally aligned with Web3 principles of direct creator-fan interaction.
Learning from Failure: The Momentrica Shutdown
Not all ventures into Web3 for entertainment have succeeded. The shutdown of Momentrica provides a critical case study in what can go wrong. Momentrica, an NFT platform launched by Dunamu and HYBE, ceased operations on July 2, 2025. The platform recorded an operating loss of 13 billion KRW ($8.88 million USD) and a net loss of 12.3 billion KRW in its last reported year.
Despite initial interest driven by HYBE's artists' digital collectibles, Momentrica struggled to maintain momentum. Analysis points to a lack of long-term utility or sustained fan participation mechanisms as primary reasons for its failure, exacerbated by the broader NFT market downturn. Crucially, Momentrica offered NFTs primarily as static digital goods rather than as tools for ongoing engagement or granting specific rights.
The contrast between the failure of Momentrica and the success of tripleS highlights a fundamental lesson for Web3 in entertainment. TripleS used blockchain at its core to grant fans voting rights and direct influence over the group's creative direction. Momentrica provided digital collectibles without these participatory elements or ongoing utility. This demonstrates that successful Web3 implementations in entertainment require robust participation architectures; they cannot rely solely on the sale of digital merchandise.
Strategic Conclusion: The Path Forward for Blockchain in Entertainment
The partnership between Sony's Soneium and the IRC APP represents a strategic evolution in applying blockchain technology to the entertainment industry. By focusing on an AI-measured engagement score that translates into real-world benefits and governance rights, the model directly addresses the shortcomings of previous failed experiments like Momentrica.
Sony’s Soneium appears strategically positioned to avoid these pitfalls by providing a scalable infrastructure explicitly built for high-volume, participation-based applications such as voting and reward distribution. The success of this initiative will ultimately depend on whether entertainment companies can leverage this infrastructure to create compelling and sustainable participation models that fans genuinely value.
For observers and participants in the crypto space, this development signals a maturation of blockchain's application beyond finance into complex cultural ecosystems. The broader market insight is clear: the future of entertainment-focused Web3 projects lies not in speculative digital assets but in architectures that facilitate transparent, measurable, and rewarding fan engagement. As this space develops, readers should watch for further announcements from Sony regarding partnerships in other creative frontiers such as anime and fashion, as well as monitor user adoption metrics for the IRC app following its integration with Soneium. The success or failure of this high-profile project will likely serve as a benchmark for future blockchain deployments in the global entertainment industry.