Yungblud and Gorillaz debut the first artist-built fan experiences, powered by a platform that gives artists full creative and data control.
Fan data startup Openstage today launched Fanbase API, a toolkit that enables artists to build fully custom fan apps, powered by their fan data. For the first time, artists have everything they need to build any fan experience they can imagine, in their own visual language, on their own domain, without compromise.
Every direct-to-fan platform that exists today asks artists to build inside someone else’s box. Fanbase API tears the box open, giving artists the tools to build whatever they want: a custom community app that looks and feels like them, a gamified fan world where show attendance, streams, and social invites all earn rewards, or a city-wide scavenger hunt tied to an album drop where fans race each other to a secret listening event. All of it running on top of their fan profiles, on their own domain, live in weeks.
“Artists aren’t just musicians, they’re world-builders,” said Rob Abelow, Chief Product Officer of Openstage. “They define the aesthetic, the community, and the experience fans step into. Fanbase API is the infrastructure to make that world real and owned. Your fans log in to your world, not someone else’s. Their data belongs to you. And the more they engage, anywhere, the smarter and more personal that world becomes. This is what it means to truly own your fan relationships.”
The first worlds are already live.
On April 2, Yungblud launched YBHQ to a limited number of Founding Members, a fully custom fan community platform powered by Fanbase API. YBHQ is designed from the ground up in Yungblud’s own visual language with interactive elements built specifically for his community. Every action fans take earns them new rewards, access, and status. The initial rollout saw overwhelming demand, reinforcing the growing appetite for deeper, artist-owned fan experiences that go beyond passive consumption.
Gorillaz used Fanbase API to launch their reimagined Kong Studios virtual world. Inside, fans check in through Rosemary, a cartoon receptionist, and every answer logs directly into their Openstage fan profile. Kong Cards (digital wallet passes) unlock early access to tickets, content, and new rooms within the studios. It’s a fully branded, fan-aware experience that feels like a natural part of the Gorillaz universe.
Under the hood, Fanbase API handles fan identity and login, membership tiers, recurring payments, rich posts with reactions, comments, and gating controls, wallet passes, and XP, levels, and badges that make fan progression visible. Every interaction—whether inside the artist’s custom experience or across streaming, social, and live—feeds back into a unified fan data graph on Openstage, building a 360-degree view of each fan that makes every future touchpoint smarter and more personal.
Fanbase API is available now to Openstage partners. Artists and developers interested in building on the platform can learn more at www.openstage.live/fanbaseapi.
About Openstage
Openstage (openstage.live) is a fan data and engagement platform used by major artists worldwide. Fanbase API extends that platform outward, turning Openstage’s fan data infrastructure into something artists can build on top of, not just log into.
The Pop Blog general news and updates, mostly from press releases and conferences.