Former Spotify Global Head of Music Nick Holmstén and Avicii‘s former manager Ash Pournouri have officially launched their new company called Belong.
The New York-based business, which emerged from stealth this week, aims to verify music fans and route the money they spend back to artists.
The company’s investors include a16z speedrun, Blitzscaling Ventures, Prevail Capital and Backwards Capital, Zarou‘s venture firm, among others.
Belong also unveiled a group of music and telecom figures backing the company: Troy Carter, Hans Vestberg and Chris Zarou.
Every Belong membership “runs on bank rails”, according to the company, so each member is verified as a real person through bank-grade KYC (Know Your Customer) checks rather than a social handle or follower count.
The company combines that verified identity with a fan’s engagement data across streaming, social and past merchandise and ticket purchases, building what it calls a KYF – or Know Your Fan – graph.
Each artist gets a branded digital card, which Belong calls a Passport, held in the fan’s phone wallet and recording how that fan has shown up over time, from shows to merch.
That record translates into recognition such as face-value presale access, early drops and member-only experiences, and Belong says the financial value created when fans spend is routed back to the artist.
“Fans have been proving their devotion for decades – the industry just never kept the receipt.”
Nick Holmstén
“Fans have been proving their devotion for decades – the industry just never kept the receipt,” said Holmstén, co-founder and CEO of Belong.
“A sold-out room empties, a number ticks over, and all that love has nowhere to land. We build the rails that carry it – from a feeling to a record, from a night you’ll remember to a relationship that remembers you back,” the Belong co-founder said.
“The artist keeps the stage. We build the floor it stands on,” Holmstén added.
Belong was founded by Holmstén, who ran Spotify‘s music team until 2019, and Pournouri, the entrepreneur and producer who discovered and managed Avicii.
“Fans fund this entire industry, but it barely knows their names,” said Pournouri, co-founder and Chief Artist Officer of Belong.
“Music sells everything around it, from tickets and merch to culture itself, yet artists capture only a fraction of the value they create. This always bothered me, and we built Belong to fix it.”
Ash Pournouri
“Music sells everything around it, from tickets and merch to culture itself, yet artists capture only a fraction of the value they create. This always bothered me, and we built Belong to fix it,” he said.
“By verifying every fan so artists truly see them, and making the music count for everything it sells, we unlock a new economy for the whole industry,” Pournouri added.
Carter, Vestberg and Zarou are joining Belong as advisors and investors, with Vestberg also serving as board chair.
Carter is the founder and CEO of Venice Music and previously managed Lady Gaga and John Legend, as well as serving as Spotify‘s Global Head of Creator Services.
“Every company claims to have solved the superfan problem, but Nick and Ash have built the first platform that actually allows artists to capture massive financial value and actionable fan data.”
Troy Carter
Vestberg is the former Chairman and CEO of Verizon and former CEO of Ericsson, while Zarou is the founder of Backwards Capital and Visionary Music Group and the longtime manager of Logic.
“Every company claims to have solved the superfan problem, but Nick and Ash have built the first platform that actually allows artists to capture massive financial value and actionable fan data,” said Carter.
“The fan relationship is one of the most valuable connections in culture, but it has never had the right infrastructure behind it.”
Hans Vestberg
“The fan relationship is one of the most valuable connections in culture, but it has never had the right infrastructure behind it,” said Vestberg. “Belong is building that missing layer.”
“In all my years managing artists, they all had the same underlying issue: we had no idea who their audience was,” said Zarou.
“We were essentially operating in the dark. This is still a massive problem,” the Backwards Capital founder said.
“Belong is the first company to solve this. An artist can finally understand who’s been there from day one and thank them for their support.”
“An artist can finally understand who’s been there from day one and thank them for their support.”
Belong‘s first artist programs will be invitation-only and are set to open in the coming months.
“We’re not building a platform fans go to – we’re building something that disappears into the relationship they already have,” said Holmstén. “If someone remembers the artist before they remember us, we’ve done our job.”Music Business Worldwide
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