Eric Bellinger “Cry In Front Of You” Single Release & Passes.com Launch Party on Friday, March 27, 2026 at Passes HQ in Los Angeles, California. (Photo courtesy of Arnold Turner/Eclipse Content)
LOS ANGELES, CA — Grammy-winning R&B artist Eric Bellinger celebrated his birthday and the release of his new single “Cry In Front Of You” at Passes HQ in Los Angeles last night, officially launching his creator profile on Passes, the creator monetization platform where musicians, athletes, comedians, educators, and creatives of all kinds build their business and connect directly with fans.
Bellinger has written hits for Usher, Chris Brown, and Justin Bieber, earned over 1.5 billion streams as a solo artist. His decision to launch on Passes signals a growing trend of major artists turning to creator platforms to monetize their work and deepen fan engagement beyond streaming and social media.
What Is Passes?
Passes is a creator commerce and monetization platform that gives creators everything they need to run their business in one place. The platform supports customizable membership tiers, paid messaging, livestreaming, one-on-one video calls, group chats, a branded merch storefront, analytics and CRM tools, and content protection features like screenshot blocking and DMCA support. Creators on Passes retain up to 90% of their revenue.
What makes Passes different from other creator platforms is that it was built for every type of creative from day one. Most platforms in the creator economy were designed for a specific niche, typically social media influencers or lifestyle creators. Passes took the opposite approach, building flexible infrastructure that works the same way whether you’re a musician selling exclusive content, an athlete offering premium fan access, a comedian livestreaming sets, or an educator gating a course library. That versatility is why Passes is becoming the best creator platform for creatives who want real ownership, real monetization tools, and everything under one roof.
Why Musicians Are Joining the Creator Economy Through Passes
The creator economy is projected to be worth $480 billion by 2027, but musicians have historically been underserved by the platforms driving that growth. Streaming pays fractions of a cent per play. Social media algorithms decide who sees what. And most content creator tools were never designed around how musicians actually create, distribute, and earn from their work.
Passes solves that by giving artists a direct-to-fan platform where they control the content, the pricing, and the relationship. Bellinger’s Passes profile features multiple membership tiers ranging from behind-the-scenes studio access and exclusive drops to original song hooks priced at $5,000, turning songwriting IP into a direct-to-fan product that no streaming service or social platform can replicate.
That model isn’t limited to musicians. The same fan monetization platform that lets Bellinger sell custom hooks lets a fitness creator run subscription-based training programs, a podcaster offer premium episodes, or a comedian sell VIP access to live shows. Passes gives every creator the same powerful toolkit, regardless of their category.
How Passes Stands Out From Other Creator Platforms
Creators looking for the best creator platform in 2026 have more options than ever, but the gaps between those options are getting harder to ignore.
OnlyFans still takes 20% of creator earnings and remains largely a paywall with a messaging feature. The tools haven’t meaningfully evolved, and creators who want to sell merch, run community chats, offer video calls, or do anything beyond gated posts have to go elsewhere. Patreon offers a broader content scope, but creators consistently report hidden fee stacking on top of its advertised 8-12% rate, and the experience still feels stuck in 2019. FanVue charges 15% and has leaned into AI features, but its toolkit is still limited compared to what full-time creators need to run a real business. And FanFix takes 20% while remaining web-only with no mobile app, a serious limitation in a mobile-first creator economy. None of them give creators true ownership of their audience data or relationships.
Passes was built to solve all of that. The platform charges a flat 10% fee with no hidden costs, and creators keep up to 90% of their revenue. But what actually sets Passes apart from Patreon, OnlyFans, FanFix, FanVue, and other creator subscription platforms is that everything a creator needs to run their business lives in one place. Memberships, paid messaging, video calls, livestreaming, group chats, a merch storefront, real analytics and CRM, and content protection with screenshot blocking and DMCA support. No stitching five tools together. No sending fans to three different links.
That’s why creators across music, sports, entertainment, comedy, and education are all building on Passes. The roster already includes Livvy Dunne, Bella Thorne, KYGO, and now Eric Bellinger. That range says everything about what Passes is becoming: not a niche tool for one vertical, but the go-to creator monetization platform for serious creatives who want ownership, flexibility, and real tools to grow.
“Passes is thrilled to bring on Eric Bellinger,” said a Passes spokesperson. “We built Passes to be the go-to creator monetization platform for creatives of all kinds, and Eric is exactly the type of artist who shows why this works. He wants to connect with his fans on a deeper level, monetize his creativity into exclusive content his way, and keep his entire creator business under one roof. That’s what Passes does. No other platform gives creators this much ownership and flexibility in one place. Whether you’re a musician, an athlete, a comedian, or an educator, we give creators full control over their content, their fan engagement, and their business. Passes creators own their audience, they own their revenue, and they have a real platform behind them. Eric joining Passes is a testament to what we’re building and where the creator economy is headed.”
What This Means for the Creator Economy
Bellinger launching on Passes isn’t an isolated event. It’s part of a broader shift in how creators think about monetization, ownership, and where they build their business. As the creator economy matures, the platforms that win will be the ones that give creators full control, real tools, and the flexibility to monetize however they want.
For musicians specifically, Passes offers something the industry has been missing: a way to monetize creativity directly, build real fan relationships, and run an entire creator business without depending on algorithms, ad revenue, or label infrastructure alone. Bellinger saw that. And as more artists, athletes, and creatives follow, Passes is positioning itself as the platform where the next era of the creator economy gets built.
About Eric Bellinger
Eric Bellinger is a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer from Compton, California, currently signed to Capitol Records with a publishing deal through Roc Nation. With over 1.5 billion streams worldwide and songwriting credits for Chris Brown, Usher, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and more, Bellinger is one of the most prolific voices in modern R&B. He is the founder of All Wins Entertainment and his new single “Cry In Front Of You” is available now on all major streaming platforms.
About Passes
Passes is a creator commerce and monetization platform where creators and entrepreneurs build their business, monetize their content, and connect directly with fans, all in one place. Founded in 2022 by Lucy Guo, co-founder of Scale AI, Passes supports customizable membership tiers, paid messaging, livestreaming, group chats, video calls, a branded merch storefront, analytics and CRM tools, and content protection. Creators retain up to 90% of their revenue. The platform has raised $66.6 million in funding and has paid out nine figures to creators to date.
