For Harry Styles fans, a ticket to the sold-out “Together Together” tour can come with a rake, a paintbrush or a shift serving meals.
A service called Earnt is offering fans tickets in exchange for volunteer work. The company trialed the idea for Styles’ “One Night Only” show in Manchester in March, then brought it to Amsterdam as the tour opened earlier this month.
Earnt works with brands, artists, hotels and other “VIP” experiences to offer volunteer opportunities in exchange for “ETYs,” or “earned thank-yous.” Volunteers sign up to support a cause and, if demand is high, go into a lottery for the chance to take part. If selected, they complete the work and then get their reward.
Fan Fauve Walkerdamarell was one of 100 people chosen from 16,000 applicants for the Manchester campaign. After volunteering to restore a playground and outdoor space at a local charity, she and her friend were emailed tickets to the show.
“Everyone was very happy and excited that we were doing something great for the community and we got tickets out of it,” she told the BBC. “It was just kind of insane.”
Earnt has now set up the program again in Amsterdam and announced new opportunities in the United Kingdom ahead of Styles’ Wembley Stadium residency in June.
At this stage, it is unclear if the volunteer offers will extend beyond the U.K. and Europe for tour stops in Brazil, Mexico, Australia or the United States.
For now, four volunteer dates are available in London. Earnt says in the fine print, “Harry will not be at the activities.”
On the sign-up page, Earnt said: “Harry’s giving his fans the chance to leave their mark on London in the best way possible, and it’s now the only way to get tickets to the sold-out tour.”
“You’re invited to join Earnt as we team up with schools and community centers across the city, showing some love and upgrading spaces used by thousands of young Londoners every day,” it added.
In Amsterdam, 200 fans helped serve meals with the Salvation Army. Earnt has not spelled out exactly which projects will be carried out in the U.K., but said fans would show up to “treat people with kindness.”
“I did this in Amsterdam three weeks ago and will celebrate my Earnt ticket at tonight’s show,” one fan commented on Earnt’s recent Instagram post. “I can highly recommend everyone to participate in this, we had so much fun together.”
“This is a fantastic way to harness the passion of a fandom for good,” another person wrote.
According to Onolla Magazine, more than 21,000 people have volunteered through Earnt for 60 events, delivering 6,500 hours of volunteering to causes that needed extra help.
Earnt says on its website: “We believe that great brands don’t just have followers; they have an army. An ‘army’ who camp outside stores to wait for a drop, who buy bots to beat the queue and who will refresh browsers thousands of times to get the product or experience they want. It’s time to convert this energy into positive action.”
“We match the needs of charities and causes to an army of volunteers; if they need hands, we’ll call up the masses.”
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