StarMaker and Oceanpayment: Keeping Social Karaoke Moments Moving in the U.S.

Maya, a StarMaker user in California, once told us about a failed payment on another entertainment platform. She was trying to send a virtual gift to a performer, but the payment failed, interrupting the moment and pulling her attention away from the music. Her story points to a wider challenge in digital entertainment: a payment problem can disrupt not only the transaction, but also the social connection behind it. For StarMaker, it reinforced the importance of reducing this kind of friction for our users in the U.S.—a goal we have pursued with Oceanpayment.

StarMaker is a karaoke app and social singing community with more than 50 million users worldwide. People come to the singing app to record songs, practice singing, share performances, and meet others who enjoy the same music.

Beyond recording, users can connect in real time through voice rooms and music livestreams. A solo performance can spark a conversation, introduce people to new singers, and help them make friends through music.

StarMaker also offers virtual gifting, membership subscriptions, and other value-added features. These options give users more ways to take part in the entertainment and community experience. When payment works reliably, it stays in the background and lets the interaction continue.

In a live karaoke room, a timely gift can make a singer feel seen and encourage others to join the interaction. The decision is often spontaneous: a user hears a performance, feels a connection, and wants to show support before the room moves on.

In the U.S., a payment may fail because of an outdated card, insufficient funds, an issuer decline, a technical issue, or a risk-control check. The reason is often invisible to the user. They only see that the gift did not reach the singer. They may leave the livestream, repeat the same steps, or try to work out what happened while the room continues without them.

The effect can last beyond one performance. After one or two failed attempts, a user may hesitate the next time they want to send a gift. What has been lost is not only the gift, but the moment of connection.

For StarMaker, the priorities were clear: reduce avoidable gifting failures, give returning users a more consistent experience, and keep security checks proportionate to the level of risk. These goals shaped our collaboration with Oceanpayment.

Oceanpayment is a Global Digital Payment Solution Provider supporting businesses with global acquiring, payment performance and risk-management capabilities across international markets. StarMaker worked with the Oceanpayment team to make payments more reliable for users in the U.S.

We began by looking more closely at unsuccessful payments. Reviewing different failure scenarios gave both teams a clearer picture of where users were running into avoidable problems and allowed each type of failure to be handled more precisely.

The teams also improved how genuine gifting activity was distinguished from higher-risk behavior, reducing the chance that a legitimate gift would be blocked unnecessarily.

Additional authentication was applied more selectively. Higher-risk situations could receive stronger verification, while lower-risk activity could continue with fewer extra steps.

Together, these changes made the gifting journey more dependable and less disruptive, helping users stay focused on the performance and the person they came to support.

Following the collaboration, the repeat purchase rate rose by 25% and paying-user retention increased by 20%. Payment-related customer complaints fell by 40%, so fewer users had to contact support about payment problems.

The fraud rate also fell by 20%. In practical terms, genuine users encountered fewer interruptions while the platform maintained stronger protection.

“Payment reliability is part of the user experience, especially in digital entertainment, where purchase decisions often happen in real time. Our work with StarMaker focused on understanding different payment failure scenarios and applying risk and authentication measures more precisely, so genuine users could complete purchases with fewer unnecessary interruptions while the platform continued to manage fraud risk.” — Carson Liu, Vice President, Oceanpayment

People join StarMaker to sing, record songs, watch music livestreams, and meet others who share their love of music. And reliable payment experience keeps the focus on the performance and the people in the room.

StarMaker will keep improving the systems behind its music entertainment experience. That means understanding local expectations, making return visits more reliable, and balancing convenience with appropriate protection.

As the community grows, our goal remains simple: help more people express themselves and make friends through music, without unnecessary interruptions getting in the way.

Start singing with StarMaker.