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May 12, 2019

Fyre Festival: Trouble in Paradise

April 28, 2017 was a day that would burn William “Billy” McFarland’s reputation to the ground. Unbeknownst to all that anticipated this date, complete chaos would soon overcome their stay on the Exuma Islands and soil the luxurious image of the widely publicized Fyre Festival. After paying thousands of dollars to attend the event, festival goers would step foot on the island and be welcomed by an “abandoned construction site in a tropical ghost town, built atop a landfill of shattered rich-kid dreams.” Extravagant villas were actually just simple tents; and delectable, gourmet meals were none other than cheese sandwiches.1 As for McFarland, he would be too shocked to present himself and assess damage control. The feeling of luxury and celebrity status would quickly be replaced with survival and fear. Tragically, Fyre Fest would only come to life on social media. It was dead upon arrival in reality.

The initial flame that sparked Fyre Festival began with Billy McFarland’s particular liking of marketing and curiosity towards how businesses worked. Fyre Festival, a grandiose music festival that was set to take place on the weekends of April 28-30 and May 5-7, 2017, was the place where McFarland would present himself as a technology mogul and illustrate to others that happiness is attained through wealth, power, and exclusivity. Billy McFarland grew up with the rise of the internet, which subsequently allowed technology to shape the way that he came of age. As early as the second grade, Billy had created a small way to market a broken crayon fixing business on internet-connected typewriters that were used at his school.2 Billy’s inquiring mind led those around him to view him as a remarkable individual that possessed the power and intelligence to alter technology and the way that the general public would use it to live an effortless life. McFarland sought after the next big thing and was slowly coming up with ways in which he could create a name for himself at the expense of wealthy consumers. Simplistic sales charm and originality would only be the beginning for Billy and the innovative ideas that he would try to successfully master to implement new technology for modern day society. Billy McFarland set his eyes on becoming a wealthy technology entrepreneur and was determined to make a name for himself, much as his idol, Mark Zuckerburg, had done.3 Since society heavily relies on the use of media to navigate and plan events, Fyre Fest was the festival that would spark publicity within the consumer market to advertise McFarland’s bigger project: the Fyre mobile app. This app would give individuals access to easily book artists at the touch of their fingertips. Within seconds, musicians would be contracted to perform at parties and the like. Essentially, this was the next generation of talent booking that would set McFarland on the map of twenty-first century entrepreneurs and businessmen.

William “Billy” McFarland promoting “Magnises” which launched the development of Fyre (2014) | Wikicommons

Initially, hosting an elite event required the difficult task of finding a location spacious enough to host large masses of people all at once, while still trying to give them a luxurious island experience. McFarland set out to the Bahamas and came across an island that would exceedingly meet his expectations to carry out this exuberant festival and host the party of the decade. Norman’s Cay in the Exuma Islands, Bahamas was the ideal site that he used to film the promotional video. The elaborate vision and outrageous, almost surreal party that McFarland and his co-founder, Ja Rule, presented in this video was necessary in selling the dream luxury to the rest of the world. This video was like no other, an entire a fantasy vacation in which supermodels were captured partying among average individuals and swimming with pigs. There was footage of boats coasting the waters and McFarland and his team having the time of their lives. The entire video was centered on sex appeal and this gave everyone who wasn’t there FOMO (fear of missing out). It was an advertisement that launched globally while the entire Fyre production and marketing team was present on the Bahamian Island.4 However, this was just the beginning flame of Fyre. After the over-the-top commercial was shot, the greatest form of marketing and publicity came from the orange tile that Billy McFarland and his team were paying models to post via Instagram, a photo and video sharing app. December 12, 2016: the launch day of the Fyre Festival promotional video; a day that would change the lives of McFarland and his team for years to come. Common Instagram users weren’t prepared to see the influx of neon orange tiles appearing on their feeds; therefore, that became the stopper that caught their attention and enticed the public to want to look into what Fyre was and what it was selling. Four hundred athletes, models, and musicians were paid to simultaneously promote Fyre to the public by posting a neon orange tile to the site. Additionally, celebrity and supermodel, Kendall Jenner, was paid two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars to advertise the festival, which was the vision that McFarland and his team were seeking to sell.5 Overnight, the awareness that surrounded the festival brought an influx of enthusiastic millennials ready to make this dream festival-vacation their reality. No other music event had ever sparked so much interest and controversy within such a short period of time. Although little was known about what the festival would entail, millennials worldwide were eager to purchase their tickets and experience Fyre.

Norman’s Cay – Exuma Islands, Bahamas | Flickr

As expected, there was a storm of wealthy investors eager to sponsor millions to make this festival a unique experience that was unheard of. The Fyre coordinators advertised amazing and surreal ticket packages that would subsequently surpass any other festival experience. Round-trip flights, secure lodging, and festival tickets were all included upon purchase. The most grandiose package totaled an astonishing two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which included lodging for ten on a ship with ten tickets of entry to the festival, ship crewmen that would cater to the needs of those onboard, lodging, and fuel. It truly was a glamorous experience that could not be topped by any other modern-day festival. Within forty-eight hours, ninety-five percent of Fyre Festival tickets had been sold to the public.6 With only three months before this island was set to host the biggest festival of the decade, event producers admittedly knew that a project this size was too grand to be completely ready to host thousands of people within such a short period of time. Realistically, it would’ve taken a minimum of eighteen months to have the landscape and facilities in considerable condition. McFarland and his partner Ja Rule were both advised to cancel the festival, so that they may be given more time to properly plan the event, but both refused and tried to pull everything together as best they could.7

Billy McFarland and his co-founder, Ja Rule, announcing Fyre Festival at the Web Summit in 2016 | Wikimedia Commons

The obstacles that the festival founders were faced with included having a lack of proper water systems and transportation from the lodging areas to the festival itself. Although it was not enough to ensure the safety of the amount of people who would be in attendance, they bought an ambulance from New Jersey and shipped it out onto the island.8 The main selling point of the festival was definitely the location, but entertainment was the second most crucial thing to have on the island. After all, this event was taking place to advertise an app in which talent could be booked. While many investors had given outrageous lump sums of money into producing this event, McFarland claimed that he was receiving monetary compensation through his Fyre app. Billy further described how he had booked events for sought-after artists such as J. Cole, the Foo Fighters, and Drake.9 Unfortunately for the investors, none of this was true. These acts were never booked through Fyre and McFarland was not going to receive money. McFarland was just desperately trying to find a way to fund all of the extravagant accommodations as well as the minimum infrastructure that needed to be built to host Fyre Festival. Unaware of his scheme, McFarland’s fraudulent claims convinced investors to continue supporting Fyre entirely.

“I see Fyre Fest as this big snowball rolling down Scam Mountain that has rolled up all of the previous scams into one… make it up first, suck up all the money,” as described by a writer for the New Yorker.10

The charisma that Billy McFarland had with those who were working on this project gave them confidence to continue executing the production of the entire event. A budget of thirty-eight million dollars was set and McFarland agreed, although he knew that there really wasn’t enough money to satisfy these demands. Big entertainers like Major Lazer, Blink 182, and Disclosure were all seeking a certain kind of production that the Fyre team was not putting together.11 All of these artists had been hired for countless events and festivals, so they were disclosing to McFarland’s team that there had to be a form of payment prior to the event that was set to take place. As predicted, the entertainment had not been paid and they were given excuses as to why they couldn’t complete the transaction at that point in time.12 At the same time, ticket holders were growing curious as to what would happen upon arriving in the Bahamas. Fyre media that was in charge of the Instagram account, was deleting comments of inquiry and only promoting the selling of more tickets. All that was really promised was an abundance of lies.

To everyone’s dismay, there was practically nothing to accommodate such an influx of people arriving at the island. The first weekend of the festival came, and ticket buyers were being flown out to the Bahamas after heavy rainfall had just showered the island. They were told to wait until further instruction.13 Ticket holders and Instagram influencers were unaware of the scam that they were about to witness. Their transportation was as luxurious as a yellow school bus gets, and instead of the luxury villas that they had paid for, a sea of tents and mattresses were lined up ready for the thousands of guests that were to be hosted. The “gourmet” meals were just “two slices of bread and processed cheese in a polystyrene box.”14 Stunned, images on social media began to surface of the actual Fyre Festival site. The venue was unfinished and unfit to hold any type of event. There were trailers that held all of the attendee’s luggage, no source of drinkable water, and clearly Fyre Festival was up in flames. Billy himself could not muster up the words to explain to festival attendees what was going to happen. Angrily, many decided that it was best to turn around and go back home.15 Fyre Festival was not going to happen the way that it had been advertised.

After all the commotion, an investigation sought to find out what had happened with all of the funding that was being received through investors and where the thousands of dollars went from tickets that were sold. None of the investors were satisfied with the events that had occurred, and until detailed records showed what really went into coordinating this festival, they decided to report the incident to the authorities.16 Fyre’s flame burnt out when ticket buyers and investors realized they had been conned of their money. Ridiculously, McFarland miraculously believed that the first day’s events would somehow turn around and allow the festival to go on for the second day.17 McFarland is an individual that should be held accountable for being unable to give at least half of what was promised. Additionally, many workers went unpaid, which only added to the larger picture of false promises that Billy McFarland had fed to those around him. Subsequently, McFarland faced a one hundred million dollar class action lawsuit that was brought by those who all fell victim to his elaborate scheme. Justice was served when McFarland was sentenced to six years in federal prison.18 Billy McFarland played with a Fyre that burned too bright and led him to gain notoriety instead of praise.

  1. Vinay Menon, “No wonder Fyre Festival—heated up by hype—went down in flames: Menon,” The Toronto Star (article) April 28, 2017, https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2017/04/28/no-wonder-fyre-festival-heated-up-by-hype-went-down-in-flames-menon.html.
  2. Hulu Official Site, “Fyre Fraud: A Hulu Documentary,” Hulu (film), January 14, 2019, https://www.hulu.com/movie/fyre-fraud-e47078f3-1c0e-49a8-9da9-c571a7a20fec?&cmp=10701&utm_source=google&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=CM_SEM_Fyre%20Fest%20Doc&utm_term=fyre%20fraud%20hulu&ds_rl=1251123&ds_rl=1251123&gclid=CjwKCAjwwtTmBRBqEiwA-b6c_xNikQDMddd0oUNUzamkeYB4UApiiGx65Hh5aRDbV_LX8EE7RrICDxoCahMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds.
  3. Netflix Official Site, “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” Netflix (film), January 18, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/title/81035279.
  4. Netflix Official Site, “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” Netflix (film), January 18, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/title/81035279.
  5. Hulu Official Site, “Fyre Fraud: A Hulu Documentary,” Hulu (film), January 14, 2019, https://www.hulu.com/movie/fyre-fraud-e47078f3-1c0e-49a8-9da9-c571a7a20fec?&cmp=10701&utm_source=google&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=CM_SEM_Fyre%20Fest%20Doc&utm_term=fyre%20fraud%20hulu&ds_rl=1251123&ds_rl=1251123&gclid=CjwKCAjwwtTmBRBqEiwA-b6c_xNikQDMddd0oUNUzamkeYB4UApiiGx65Hh5aRDbV_LX8EE7RrICDxoCahMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds.
  6. Netflix Official Site, “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” Netflix (film), January 18, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/title/81035279.
  7. Tosten Burks, “Fyre’s Billy McFarland Also Lied About Deals With the Foo Fighters, Jennifer Lopez, and Lil Wayne,” SPIN News (article), January 24, 2019, https://www.spin.com/2019/01/fyre-festival-billy-mcfarland-fake-artist-deals/.
  8. Joe Coscarelli and Melena Ryzik, “Fyre Festival, billed as a Luxury Music Weekend in the Bahamas, Falls Apart,” The New York Times (article), April 29, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/arts/music/fyre-festival-ja-rule-bahamas.html.
  9. Tosten Burks, “Fyre’s Billy McFarland Also Lied About Deals With the Foo Fighters, Jennifer Lopez, and Lil Wayne,” SPIN News (article) January 24, 2019, https://www.spin.com/2019/01/fyre-festival-billy-mcfarland-fake-artist-deals/.
  10. Hulu Official Site, “Fyre Fraud: A Hulu Documentary,” Hulu (film), January 14, 2019, https://www.hulu.com/movie/fyre-fraud-e47078f3-1c0e-49a8-9da9-c571a7a20fec?&cmp=10701&utm_source=google&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=CM_SEM_Fyre%20Fest%20Doc&utm_term=fyre%20fraud%20hulu&ds_rl=1251123&ds_rl=1251123&gclid=CjwKCAjwwtTmBRBqEiwA-b6c_xNikQDMddd0oUNUzamkeYB4UApiiGx65Hh5aRDbV_LX8EE7RrICDxoCahMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds.
  11. Netflix Official Site, “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” Netflix (film), January 18, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/title/81035279.
  12. Hulu Official Site, “Fyre Fraud: A Hulu Documentary,” Hulu (film), January 14, 2019, https://www.hulu.com/movie/fyre-fraud-e47078f3-1c0e-49a8-9da9-c571a7a20fec?&cmp=10701&utm_source=google&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=CM_SEM_Fyre%20Fest%20Doc&utm_term=fyre%20fraud%20hulu&ds_rl=1251123&ds_rl=1251123&gclid=CjwKCAjwwtTmBRBqEiwA-b6c_xNikQDMddd0oUNUzamkeYB4UApiiGx65Hh5aRDbV_LX8EE7RrICDxoCahMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds.
  13. Netflix Official Site, “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” Netflix (film), January 18, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/title/81035279.
  14. Vinay Menon, “No wonder Fyre Festival—heated up by hype—went down in flames: Menon,” The Toronto Star (article), April 28, 2017, https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2017/04/28/no-wonder-fyre-festival-heated-up-by-hype-went-down-in-flames-menon.html.
  15. Hulu Official Site, “Fyre Fraud: A Hulu Documentary,” Hulu (film), January 14, 2019, https://www.hulu.com/movie/fyre-fraud-e47078f3-1c0e-49a8-9da9-c571a7a20fec?&cmp=10701&utm_source=google&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=CM_SEM_Fyre%20Fest%20Doc&utm_term=fyre%20fraud%20hulu&ds_rl=1251123&ds_rl=1251123&gclid=CjwKCAjwwtTmBRBqEiwA-b6c_xNikQDMddd0oUNUzamkeYB4UApiiGx65Hh5aRDbV_LX8EE7RrICDxoCahMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds.
  16. Tosten Burks, “Fyre’s Billy McFarland Also Lied About Deals With the Foo Fighters, Jennifer Lopez, and Lil Wayne,” SPIN News (online), January 24, 2019, https://www.spin.com/2019/01/fyre-festival-billy-mcfarland-fake-artist-deals/.
  17. Joe Coscarelli and Melena Ryzik, “Fyre Festival, billed as a Luxury Music Weekend in the Bahamas, Falls Apart,” The New York Times (article), April 29, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/arts/music/fyre-festival-ja-rule-bahamas.html.
  18. Amy B. Wang, “Founder of disastrous Fyre Festival arrested, charged with fraud,” The Washington Post (article), July 1, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/07/01/founder-of-disastrous-fyre-festival-arrested-and-charged-with-fraud/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9fe260c38379.

Tags from the story

Fyre Festival

ponzi scheme

William “Billy” McFarland

Recent Comments

Sebastian Azcui

I remember the day I found out about this festival way back in my home country. As the article describes, it was supposed to be a huge festival and it had many things for people to enjoy and have a really good time. This festival included a place to stay, food, alcoholic beverages, and many more things to make the party unbelievable. What I don’t understand is how such a big event was not exposed before to not be real and everything was a lie. People are doing these things to get famous and rich.

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08/09/2019

8:54 am

Nelly Perez

This was a crazy story to read with a good set of play-on-words within. McFarland really scammed thousands of people who wanted to attend a festival with luxury products there. He could’ve planned this out carefully so it would not look bad on the first day, but he ended up ruining things for himself in the end by not having enough funds for the rest of the things he needed to do. The celebrities took part in advertising, but I wonder if they backed out before they knew what was to come.

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09/09/2019

8:54 am

Andrea Degollado

This article was so interesting to me, I had never heard of this incident or this festival. But I was/ am completely amazed of the fact that he was able to scam people of so much money and he was able to pull it off all the way until the first day of the festival. However I did find it sad that he had potential to have a bright future but let his ambition and greed get the best of him.

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09/09/2019

8:54 am

Kaleb Werku

I remember that the fire festival like it was yesterday. The count down to Fyre festival was huge I just remember them booking J.Cole and Drake. I was pretty suspicious of it at the start. It was just crazy for me that they booked all these A-list celebrities so quickly. When it started I remember seeing the video on Instagram of Fyre festival, and to be honest I laughed. They spent so much money just to get ripped off it’s said.

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17/09/2019

8:54 am

Victoria Davis

I was too young to hear about this during the time it occurred but it was so interesting to hear about it now. It also shows me that I need to be aware of buying tickets to concerts or any other festivals. I really do believe McFarland tried hosting this event and hyping it up for clout. I do not understand how any of the celebrities did not become more suspicious as the date approached.

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21/09/2019

8:54 am

Sofia Martinez

I remember when this happened, mainly because many people were giving backlash to Kendall Jenner on social media for supporting and advertising the Fyre Festival. Which in my opinion, people who bought tickets for this luxurious event should have know McFarland’s experience with business, and he was obviously young and new, he knew nothing about how to manage a business AND decided to scam people when he knew he wasn’t going to be able to fund the attraction.

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21/09/2019

8:54 am

Briley Perkins

This article was very interesting to me, because I have never heard of this festival or the scandal that occurred. I can not believe that McFarland was able to scam the thousands of people and absolutely no one knew till the day of the festival. All the things that were promised like celebrities and such were obviously a no one because they were never booked to begin with. This is why you have be careful about what you read.

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25/09/2019

8:54 am

Jacqueline Mendez

The very detailed article had such imagery. It’s crazy to think that this was three years ago. I remember seeing all the snapchat stories of those days. Not going to lie it was funny but it was shocking. The conditions in which these people were in was terrible. They had to survive and none of them were ready for it. The creator did not know what he was getting himself into and he coward himself inside.

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29/09/2019

8:54 am

Mara Martinez

I never even knew this occurred so this article actually taught me something. I cannot believe that so many people got scammed and that he GOT away with it. Like why waste so much time and effort to advertise, and “set it up” just to like not have it happen. How people wound up so lost in money all because of him. It is crazy.

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29/09/2019

8:54 am

Kristina Tijerina

Fyre Festival was such a shock to read about. I had never even heard of the situation that happened only a few years ago. It’s hard to believe that MacFarland was able to con people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars with false advertisement of his event. He should’ve listened to the people telling him to hold off on the event. Clearly, the three months he had to put together his event, that was accommodating thousands of people, was not enough time. If he had listened instead of being stubborn and thinking about what he was doing, he wouldn’t be in jail right now with a ruined record.

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30/09/2019

8:54 am

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