NEW YORK, United States — Belong, a New York-based startup reimagining artist memberships through verified digital identities and financial infrastructure, has officially emerged from stealth. Founded by former Spotify Global Head of Music Nick Holmstén and Swedish entrepreneur Ash Pournouri, the company aims to help artists better understand, reward, and monetize their most loyal fans.
The startup has secured backing from notable investors including a16z Speedrun, Blitzscaling Ventures, Prevail Capital, and Backwards Capital. It is also supported by industry leaders Troy Carter, Hans Vestberg, and Chris Zarou, who join the company as investors and advisors.
Building Verified Fan Communities
Belong is introducing a new approach to fan memberships by combining financial infrastructure with identity verification. Every membership operates on banking rails, with users completing bank-grade Know Your Customer (KYC)verification to confirm they are real individuals rather than anonymous social media accounts.
The platform then creates what Belong calls a Know Your Fan (KYF) profile by combining verified identity with engagement data gathered from streaming activity, social platforms, merchandise purchases, and concert attendance.
The result is a persistent digital relationship between artists and fans that extends beyond individual transactions.
Digital Passports for Music Fans
Each participating artist receives a branded digital membership card—called a Passport—that is stored in a fan’s mobile wallet.
The Passport records how fans engage over time, including attending concerts, purchasing merchandise, and supporting releases. Artists can then reward loyal supporters with benefits such as exclusive merchandise drops, early ticket access, member-only experiences, and other personalized perks.
Belong says its financial infrastructure also ensures that more of the economic value generated by fan engagement flows directly back to artists.
AI-Driven Fan Intelligence
Artificial intelligence plays a central role in Belong’s platform by helping artists transform fragmented engagement data into actionable audience insights.
Instead of relying solely on streaming statistics or social media followers, artists gain a unified view of verified supporters, allowing them to identify their most engaged fans and build long-term relationships based on actual participation rather than algorithms.
The founders argue that this creates a more sustainable business model for musicians while improving the fan experience through personalized recognition.
Founded by Music Industry Veterans
Belong was founded by Nick Holmstén, who led Spotify’s global music organization until 2019, and Ash Pournouri, the entrepreneur best known for discovering and managing the late electronic music producer Avicii.
Holmstén said today’s music industry has never adequately captured the value of fan loyalty.
According to him, concerts, streams, and purchases create lasting relationships that largely disappear once individual transactions are complete. Belong aims to build the infrastructure that preserves those relationships over time.
Pournouri added that while fans generate enormous economic value through ticket sales, merchandise, and streaming, artists often receive only a small portion of that value because they lack direct ownership of fan relationships.
High-Profile Industry Support
The startup has attracted several influential figures from the music and technology industries.
Troy Carter, founder and CEO of Venice Music and former manager of Lady Gaga and John Legend, believes Belong is the first platform capable of combining verified fan data with meaningful financial value for artists.
Hans Vestberg, former CEO of Ericsson and Chairman and CEO of Verizon, will serve as Chairman of Belong’s board. He describes fan relationships as one of the music industry’s most valuable assets but argues they have lacked the technological infrastructure needed to unlock their full potential.
Investor Chris Zarou, founder of Backwards Capital and longtime manager of rapper Logic, says artists have historically operated with limited visibility into who their audiences truly are. Belong, he believes, finally gives creators the tools to identify and reward supporters who have been with them from the beginning.
Entering the Growing Superfan Economy
Belong launches as the music industry increasingly focuses on building stronger direct relationships with superfans.
Streaming platforms, record labels, and artists are investing heavily in exclusive memberships, personalized experiences, and direct-to-fan business models that generate recurring revenue beyond streaming royalties.
Belong’s first artist membership programs will launch on an invitation-only basis in the coming months, with the company positioning itself not as another social platform, but as the underlying infrastructure connecting artists with verified, long-term fan communities.
