Soneium And IRC APP Partner To Transform Fan Engagement At Japan’s Largest Idol & Fashion Festival
Soneium, developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, introduced a collaboration with IRC APP, the official utility for IDOL RUNWAY COLLECTION, supported by TGC.
Created by YOAKE leisure, IRC APP allows fandom actions to be recorded, rewarded, and acknowledged in a clear and lasting method utilizing onchain expertise by means of the REC token. YOAKE leisure, a recipient of the Soneium Spark initiative, is backed by main Japanese IP and leisure firms together with TWIN PLANET, ASOBISYSTEM, W TOKYO, Y&N Brothers, and Sony Group.
The firm organizes IRC, Japan’s largest idol and style pageant, and continues to innovate fan engagement by means of the applying.
IRC has reached over one million individuals by means of venue attendance, broadcast viewership, and media protection. The utility goals to redefine how fandom contributions are tracked and rewarded, creating new alternatives for inventive participation within the digital and onchain period.
IRC 2026 marks the third annual version of one among Japan’s fastest-growing cultural festivals, now elevated by its partnership with TGC, the nation’s largest and most influential style occasion. Since 2005, TGC has hosted over 40 large-scale reveals, attracting a cumulative viewers exceeding 5 million by means of stay occasions, regional excursions, and nationwide livestreams, offering IRC with a world-class manufacturing and cultural platform.
Building on this basis, IRC 2025 drew round 11,800 attendees to the National Yoyogi Gymnasium First Gymnasium, that includes 107 idols performing in a singular mixture of idol tradition and high-fashion runway presentation. The occasion established IRC as one among Japan’s most necessary idol and style hybrid festivals.
On March fifteenth, 2026, IRC 2026 will return to the Yoyogi National Gymnasium First Gymnasium, hosted by YOAKE leisure. This version will characteristic outstanding idol teams together with Nogizaka46, =LOVE, FRUITS ZIPPER, CUTIE STREET, and TAKANE NO NADESHIKO, reflecting its cultural influence and broad enchantment.
By integrating TGC’s international style affect, IRC’s arena-scale manufacturing, and Japan’s idol ecosystem, IRC 2026 represents an bold convergence of leisure, style, and onchain fan participation, providing a brand new mannequin for interactive cultural experiences.
IRC APP Brings Global Fan Engagement To Japan’s Largest Idol Festival On Soneium
Across the worldwide leisure trade, fan engagement has usually gone unmeasured and undervalued. IRC APP addresses this problem by specializing in J-Pop, the world’s second-largest music market based on IFPI’s Global Music Report 2025, collaborating with main idol teams and Japan’s largest idol pageant to exhibit how IPFi infrastructure can unlock measurable worth from inventive communities at scale.
Built on Soneium’s infrastructure, IRC APP connects on a regular basis fan exercise to tangible outcomes at IRC. The utility makes use of Account Abstraction (AA) to simplify blockchain entry, permitting customers to take part instantly by means of social logins similar to LINE, Google, or Apple while not having wallets or technical setup. By linking an X (previously Twitter) account, customers have interaction with “AI SNS Trends,” an AI-driven analytics system powered by Record Protocol that evaluates publicly accessible supportive posts for positivity, consistency, and group contribution.
Record Protocol offers a impartial, blockchain- and AI-based infrastructure that makes fandom contributions verifiable and economically related. Historically, followers have amplified content material, coordinated communities, and generated demand, but their efforts have not often been quantifiable.
Record Protocol addresses this hole by turning engagement into measurable worth.
Fan exercise is tracked by means of IRC Score, which is mechanically credited to customers’ onchain wallets with out fuel charges or transaction approvals.
Accumulated scores decide membership ranges—Regular, Bronze, Silver, or Gold—unlocking advantages similar to early ticket entry, precedence entry, and premium venue invitations. Higher membership ranks additionally grant extra voting tickets, permitting followers to affect real-world facets of IRC 2026 by means of onchain “Fan Vote” capabilities.
The system was validated throughout a January beta, which introduced over 60,000 customers onchain and demonstrated that mainstream audiences can have interaction with onchain voting by means of an accessible design.
By combining social-native onboarding, AI-based fandom evaluation, and gasless onchain interplay, IRC APP creates a framework the place fan participation interprets into significant, verifiable influence on the occasion expertise.
IRC 2026 Lineup Integrated With IRC APP On Soneium
YOAKE Entertainment has revealed the primary wave of performers for IRC 2026, all of whom will take part by means of IRC APP on Soneium, permitting followers to interact through AI SNS Trends and earn IRC Score. Additional artists are anticipated to be introduced within the coming months.
Nogizaka46, fashioned in 2011 and produced by Yasushi Akimoto, is a number one feminine idol group acknowledged for its polished performances and affect throughout music, style, and media.
=LOVE, produced by Rino Sashihara and debuting in 2017, combines expressive vocals, dance, and visuals to set a contemporary normal for mainstream idol leisure.
FRUITS ZIPPER, a seven-member group launched in 2022 beneath ASOBISYSTEM’s “NEW KAWAII” idea, displays Harajuku tradition and has gained recognition on social media each in Japan and overseas.
CUTIE STREET, an eight-member ensemble debuting in 2024 from ASOBISYSTEM’s KAWAII LAB., brings particular person personalities collectively beneath the “KAWAII MAKER” idea to ship up to date Harajuku model worldwide.
TAKANE NO NADESHIKO, fashioned in 2022 by HoneyWorks, embodies conventional Japanese class whereas interesting to fashionable idol tradition.
Through IRC APP, followers can earn IRC Score mechanically by posting optimistic, supportive content material about taking part artists on X (previously Twitter), with scores claimed onchain with out requiring blockchain data or charges. The platform transforms on a regular basis social engagement into measurable affect for IRC 2026.
As a part of the pageant’s participatory strategy, the IRC APP will host an Opening Act Audition, inviting followers to appoint idols for the opening efficiency. Selected nominees can be featured in AI SNS Trends, permitting their fandoms to earn IRC Score, which converts into voting tickets primarily based on Membership rank. The submission interval runs from November 28, 2025, to December thirteenth, 2025, with voting scheduled for January 2026. Further particulars can be shared through official social channels, encouraging widespread fan participation.
This collaboration represents the biggest real-world fandom integration constructed on Soneium, uniting Japan’s main idol teams, nationwide followers, and an onchain engagement layer. IRC APP reconceives J-Pop fandom as a measurable community linking digital and bodily exercise, the place each day contributions are recorded transparently. Powered by Soneium, the platform connects fan enthusiasm with inventive IPs, forming a basis the place music, tradition, and expertise converge. While rooted in idol tradition, the mannequin is designed to broaden into music, anime, style, and different inventive industries, demonstrating how expertise can improve, somewhat than exchange, fan ardour.
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