The founder of the Fyre Festival, Billy McFarland, illustrated in 2023, puts the brand for sale two years after announcing plans for a second event.
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The organizer of the Fyre Fest failure and his long -awaited suite – which was to take place next month – put the brand for sale.
The founder Billy McFarland announced on Wednesday that the brand had become “greater than any person and bigger than what I am able to direct by myself” and that it needs a team with “scale, experience and infrastructure” to reach its full potential. He said on social networks that “it is time to pass the torch”.
“We have decided that the best way to reach our goals is to sell the Fyre Festival brand, including its brands, IP, digital assets, the scope of the media and cultural capital-to an operator who can fully realize his vision,” he wrote.
Interested buyers can provide their personal information and make an open offer via an online form. A warning indicates that people who submit offers will receive an e-mail with a request for follow-up information, and “offer will be considered package” if it does not respond within 24 hours.
McFarland said that his team would choose the new owner according to “their ability to execute Fyre’s vision in a transparent, large and fast way”.
“The next chapter of Fyre will be larger, better and built to last without me at the helm,” he added.
The assets for sale include not only the name of Fyre, intellectual property and brands, but an “location of the non -specified” Caribbean festival “which, according to McFarland, is ready to welcome Fyre Festival 2.
McFarland’s announcement confirms that the long -awaited and postponed sequel several times will not take place on May 30 in Mexico as planned.
Doubts as to the place – and if – the festival would occur in recent weeks, after the local governments of two different islands, one after the other, have publicly denied that they would host it.
The media, including ABC and NBC, reported last Wednesday that the organizers informed the ticket holders that the event was postponed, to say a few hours later that the program would continue and that it would soon announce a new host destination.
McFarland said that he was committed to leaders from several Caribbean destinations who have already approached him to organize the festival. But it seems that work continues without him.
“Giving control of the brand to a new group is the most responsible way to follow what we have decided to do: build a world entertainment brand, organize a safe and legendary event and continue to pay a restitution to those due to the first festival,” wrote McFarland.
How did we get here?
The brutal announcement on Wednesday is the last Tour of Saga which started seriously in April 2017, when the Fyre Original Festival imploded.
The event was announced – by a cast of influencers and celebrities of the big name – as a glamorous music festival on an isolated Bahamian island with luxury accommodation. But when the participants arrived on Great Exuma for the inaugural weekend, they met a total chaos scene.
Their luxury accommodation turned out to be unfinished fema tents, and gastronomic food was in fact sandwiches with boxes in a box.
Many planned artists – a program including Blink -182, Migos and Major Lazer – had already canceled their performance. The participants found themselves blocked on a distant island – and, by design, “without species”, without inadequate safety, medical care, food, accommodation, bathrooms or transport.
The organizers quickly offered reimbursements and apology, with McFarland saying Roller That “we were a little naive in thought for the first time we could do it ourselves”. But that did not bring the benefits, which included several proceedings, duel documentaries and criminal charges.
Hundreds of ticket holders have filed a collective appeal against the organizers of the event, which they designed for $ 2 million in 2021. McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to two fraud chiefs bound to the festival.
He was released two years earlier in 2022 but still owed $ 26 million in return. McFarland quickly turned his attention to restarting the festival. He said on Wednesday that Fyre Festival 2 was “about two things: to finish what I started and do things correctly”.
What’s going on with the festival?
The Chemin du Fyre Festival 2 has been bumpy for years.
McFarland unveiled his plans for the first time in 2023, for a festival which should take place in December 2024. He then announced in September 2024 that the festival would take place over three days in April 2025 on a “private island without names off Mexico”.
McFarland said to Watch today That he would not manage logistics this time, saying that he had “an incredible production company that manages everything, from nut soup”.
While the details of the talents and the location were rare, McFarland said that the festival would have more than music (“For example, Karate Combat”). He talked about excursions like scuba diving and “Super Cales” cheese sandwiches, paying tribute to the 2017 edition.
The tickets were put on sale in February 2025, even before the announcement of a program.
Ticket prices started at $ 1,400, according to VarietyBut high rolls could pay $ 5,000 for VIP access, $ 25,000 for artists’ access and $ 1.1 million for the Package “Prometheus God of Fyre” (which included a four -cabin yacht and a private driver service).
The website said at the time that the festival will take place on Isla Mujeres, a tropical island off Cancún, Mexico. But in a few days, the local government challenged this.
“We have no knowledge of this event, nor contact with a person or a business on this subject,” said Edgar Gasca, of the Tourism Department of Isla Mujeres the guardian Questioned on this subject at the end of February. “For us, this is an event that does not exist.”
The organizers changed CAP, announcing on Instagram – then during a press conference – at the end of March that the festival will take place in the coastal seaside resort of Playa del Carmen. But they were thwarted again in early April when the town hall of Playa del Carmen published on social networks: “There will be no event called” Fyre 2 “in Playa del Carmen.”
The post said that there was no file or planned to indicate that such an event took place in the municipality. McFarland quickly retaliated on social networks, saying that Fyre has been working directly with the local government since the beginning of March and shared various screenshots of what he called “permits, payments and communications”.
Two weeks later, the participants received messages on postponement and reimbursements. Festival spokesperson Nick Lawson said in a statement reported by the Washington Post That the event would not start at Playa del Carmen on May 30 after all, but insisted that “Fyre Festival 2 is still in progress”.
“We check new locations and will soon announce our host destination,” the statement said. “Our priorities remain unchanged: offer an unforgettable, safe and transparent experience.”
McFarland said on Wednesday that “following the challenges we faced in Mexico”, his team plunged into the process of searching for a new place, making on -site visits and meeting civil servants. He said they were convinced that they had “found the ideal location for the festival” – under a new leadership.
“Although I am incredibly excited, I cannot risk a rehearsal of what happened in Playa del Carmen, where support quickly turned into public distancing once media attention has intensified,” said McFarland. “For Fyre Festival 2 to succeed, it is clear that I have to step back and allow a new team to advance independently, giving life to vision on this incredible island.”
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