Soneium And IRC APP Partner To Transform Fan Engagement At Japan’s Largest Idol & Fashion Festival 

by
Alisa Davidson

Revealed: November 27, 2025 at 9:00 pm Up to date: November 27, 2025 at 8:36 am

by Ana

Edited and fact-checked:
November 27, 2025 at 9:00 pm

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Soneium, developed by Sony Block Options Labs, introduced a collaboration with IRC APP, the official utility for IDOL RUNWAY COLLECTION, supported by TGC. 

Created by YOAKE leisure, IRC APP permits 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 corporate organizes IRC, Japan’s largest idol and trend competition, and continues to innovate fan engagement by means of the appliance.

IRC has reached over 1,000,000 folks by means of venue attendance, broadcast viewership, and media protection. The applying 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 certainly one of Japan’s fastest-growing cultural festivals, now elevated by its partnership with TGC, the nation’s largest and most influential trend occasion. Since 2005, TGC has hosted over 40 large-scale exhibits, attracting a cumulative viewers exceeding 5 million by means of dwell occasions, regional excursions, and nationwide livestreams, offering IRC with a world-class manufacturing and cultural platform.

Constructing on this basis, IRC 2025 drew round 11,800 attendees to the Nationwide 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 certainly one of Japan’s most essential idol and trend hybrid festivals.

On March fifteenth, 2026, IRC 2026 will return to the Yoyogi Nationwide Gymnasium First Gymnasium, hosted by YOAKE leisure. This version will function outstanding idol teams together with Nogizaka46, =LOVE, FRUITS ZIPPER, CUTIE STREET, and TAKANE NO NADESHIKO, reflecting its cultural affect and broad enchantment.

By integrating TGC’s international trend affect, IRC’s arena-scale manufacturing, and Japan’s idol ecosystem, IRC 2026 represents an bold convergence of leisure, trend, and onchain fan participation, providing a brand new mannequin for interactive cultural experiences.

IRC APP Brings World Fan Engagement To Japan’s Largest Idol Competition On Soneium

Throughout the worldwide leisure business, fan engagement has typically gone unmeasured and undervalued. IRC APP addresses this subject by specializing in J-Pop, the world’s second-largest music market in line with IFPI’s World Music Report 2025, collaborating with main idol teams and Japan’s largest idol competition to exhibit how IPFi infrastructure can unlock measurable worth from inventive communities at scale.

Constructed on Soneium’s infrastructure, IRC APP connects on a regular basis fan exercise to tangible outcomes at IRC. The applying makes use of Account Abstraction (AA) to simplify blockchain entry, permitting customers to take part instantly by means of social logins akin to LINE, Google, or Apple with no need wallets or technical setup. By linking an X (previously Twitter) account, customers interact with “AI SNS Tendencies,” an AI-driven analytics system powered by Report Protocol that evaluates publicly out there supportive posts for positivity, consistency, and group contribution.

Report Protocol supplies a impartial, blockchain- and AI-based infrastructure that makes fandom contributions verifiable and economically related. Traditionally, followers have amplified content material, coordinated communities, and generated demand, but their efforts have not often been quantifiable. 

Report Protocol addresses this hole by turning engagement into measurable worth.

Fan exercise is tracked by means of IRC Rating, which is mechanically credited to customers’ onchain wallets with out fuel charges or transaction approvals. 

Amassed scores decide membership ranges—Common, Bronze, Silver, or Gold—unlocking advantages akin to early ticket entry, precedence entry, and premium venue invitations. Larger membership ranks additionally grant extra voting tickets, permitting followers to affect real-world elements 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 interact 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 affect on the occasion expertise.

IRC 2026 Lineup Built-in With IRC APP On Soneium

YOAKE Leisure 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 have interaction by way of AI SNS Tendencies and earn IRC Rating. Further 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, trend, 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 underneath ASOBISYSTEM’s “NEW KAWAII” idea, displays Harajuku tradition and has gained reputation 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 underneath the “KAWAII MAKER” idea to ship modern Harajuku type worldwide. 

TAKANE NO NADESHIKO, fashioned in 2022 by HoneyWorks, embodies conventional Japanese class whereas interesting to trendy idol tradition.

Via IRC APP, followers can earn IRC Rating mechanically by posting optimistic, supportive content material about collaborating artists on X (previously Twitter), with scores claimed onchain with out requiring blockchain information or charges. The platform transforms on a regular basis social engagement into measurable affect for IRC 2026.

As a part of the competition’s participatory strategy, the IRC APP will host an Opening Act Audition, inviting followers to appoint idols for the opening efficiency. Chosen nominees can be featured in AI SNS Tendencies, permitting their fandoms to earn IRC Rating, which converts into voting tickets based mostly on Membership rank. The submission interval runs from November 28, 2025, to December thirteenth, 2025, with voting scheduled for January 2026. Additional particulars can be shared by way of 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 day by 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. Whereas rooted in idol tradition, the mannequin is designed to broaden into music, anime, trend, and different inventive industries, demonstrating how expertise can improve, reasonably than exchange, fan ardour.

Alisa, a devoted journalist on the MPost, focuses on cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a eager eye for rising traits and applied sciences, she delivers complete protection to tell and have interaction readers within the ever-evolving panorama of digital finance.

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