Billy McFarland says he's selling Fyre brand, including 'Caribbean festival location'
Billy McFarland says he's selling Fyre brand, including 'Caribbean festival location' "It deserves a team with the scale, experience and infrastructure to realize its potential," founder Billy McFarland said about Fyre Festival in a statement.
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Fyre Festival − the brand behind the 2017 scandal-ridden music festival and the so-far failed second attempt − is for sale.
Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland announced on Wednesday, April 23 that he is selling the festival's brand, including intellectual property, trademarks, social media accounts, email, text lists and documentary coverage, according to information on the festival's website.
The Fyre site formerly promoted a music, arts and culture festival, Fyre Festival 2, to occur May 30 through June 2 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. As of Wednesday, the website boasted the festival's for-sale brand asset package and a digital auction form for those interested in putting in an offer.
"This brand is bigger than any one person and bigger than what I'm able to lead on my own. It's a movement. And it deserves a team with the scale, experience and infrastructure to realize its potential," McFarland wrote in a statement on the site and also shared on social media.
The Fyre Festival team did not immediately respond when contacted by USA TODAY for comment on Thursday. It is unclear if the festival is still on track to begin May 30.
Organizers most recently announced they were looking for a new location for the festival, just weeks before it's schedule start time, leading many to assume it was canceled or postponed.
What is Fyre Festival 2?
Previously described as an "electrifying celebration of music, arts, cuisine, comedy, fashion, gaming, sports and treasure hunting," Fyre Festival 2 boasted tickets that ranged between $1,400 for one person to $1.1 million for a group of eight.
In 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for engaging in several fraudulent schemes related to the first Fyre Festival. After his arrest, the festival's organizer acknowledged that he had defrauded investors out of $26 million and more than $100,000 in fraudulent ticket-selling schemes.
As part of his sentencing, McFarland agreed to pay $26 million in restitution to victims of the first Fyre Festival. Fyre Festival 2 co-founder Mike Falb previously told USA TODAY that $500,000 of the proceeds from the festival and an additional 10% of all profits would be put toward the restitution.
As part of a potential sale of the brand, McFarland said in his statement that he would continue to pay restitution.
What's for sale?
The Fyre Festival website lists the following as part of the brand asset package:
Brand name
Intellectual property
Trademarks
Content, including photos, videos and graphics
Domains
Email and text lists
Marketing materials
Social media accounts
Caribbean festival location
Media and documentary coverage
Artist support
Team
"Documentary coverage" appears to be in reference to two documentaries that were released after the first Fyre Festival − Netflix's "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened" and Hulu's "Fyre Fraud."
The revamped website also boasts online impressions and traffic, claiming that over the past 60 days, more than 422,000 unique visitors from 190 countries had visited the Fyre Festival website.
The website suggests that interested parties fill out an online form to make an offer and share their plans for the brand.
What's happening with Fyre Festival 2?
Not unlike the inaugural Fyre Festival in 2017, this year's event has faced several roadblocks.
In mid-April, just weeks before the festival's kickoff, event organizers announced they were seeking a new location for the festival, as the two previous ones hadn't worked in their favor.
Initially, the festival was promoted to be held on Isla Mujeres, Mexico, a small island right off the coast of Cancún. But Isla Mujeres officials and a hotel that the festival claimed to work with said they were unaware of the event.
After the festival announced it would be held in Playa del Carmen, again, government officials there said they weren't familiar with it.
In response, Fyre Festival took to social media to share screenshots of emails and permits, but details were askew from what had been promoted. McFarland claimed 2,000 tickets were available for the festival, but shared permits indicated that only space for 250 people had been obtained.
"When a government takes your money, issues permits, promotes the event and then pretends it's never heard of you, that's not just dishonest − it's theft. Due to this, we have decided to move Fyre Festival 2 elsewhere," a note sent to ticketholders in mid-April claimed.
What happened during the first Fyre Festival?
Intended to be held over two weeks in April and May 2017, the first Fyre Festival was promoted by social media influencers like Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber, and ticketholders were promised acts like Blink-182 and Migos.
However, upon arrival, festival-goers learned that the artists had canceled. Due to poor Caribbean weather, the festival was essentially washed out, with the promised luxury accommodations and gourmet food nowhere to be found. In the end, attendees only stayed one night before they were evacuated.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
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