Fyre Festival to be turned into music streaming service after purchase of IP and event cancellation

Fyre Festival is set to turn into a music streaming service after the purchase of its IP and the cancellation of the planned event.

• READ MORE: Fyre Festival: Is this the worst ‘luxury’ festival of all time?

The festival, founded by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule, is getting a new life, according to Deadline. The publication reports that director and producer Shawn Rech, who co-founded the TruBlue streaming service with TV show host Chris Hansen, has acquired some of Fyre Festival’s IP. This includes two trademarks, which will allow him to launch the service.

“Music networks are all just programming now and I have no interest in watching people slip on bananas,” Rech told Deadline. “It has nothing to do with music. I needed a big name that people would remember, even if it’s attached to infamy, so that’s why I bought these [trademarks] to start the streaming network.

“This isn’t about festivals or hype — it’s about putting the power of music discovery back in the hands of the fans. We’re building something authentic and lasting.”

This comes as Fyre Fest 2 has been indefinitely postponed, less than two months before it was due to take place. Initially scheduled to take place from May 30 until June 2 in Mexico, tickets went on sale in February, and doubt was soon cast on the highly scrutinised “sequel” to 2017’s infamously botched Fyre Fest.

Rech has not acquired the festival itself, which is still owned by McFarland. McFarland is allegedly still looking for a new location for the event. He is reported to have a presence in the planned streaming service. According to Deadline, the Fyre Fest streaming service will be a user-submitted and fan-curated network.

News of the Fyre Fest 2’s cancellation was first shared in an email to ticketholders and those who had signed up for the Fyre Festival newsletter, with ABC News later breaking the story publicly.

In their notice to ticket holders, festival bosses wrote: “The event has been postponed and a new date will be announced. We have issued you a refund. Once the new date is announced, at that time, you can repurchase if it works for your schedule.”

First developed by McFarland eight years ago, the botched festival Fyre Fest was originally set to run over two weekends on a private beach in the Bahamas but was revealed to be fraudulent once punters arrived on the scene, with inadequate conditions and a lack of food and water. The debacle was then captured in the now-iconic Netflix documentary FYRE.

The original edition in 2017 was reportedly set to include performances from Blink-182, Major Lazer, Disclosure, Migos, Pusha T, Tyga and more.

While nobody is surprised that the second iteration of the festival went south, many are shocked anyone bought tickets a second time around.

Back in February, it was announced that the festival would be taking place in Isla Mujeres, a tropical island off Cancún, Mexico. However, the tourist board and local officials soon claimed that no such festival exists.

Then, it was revealed earlier this month  that the permit McFarland had obtained – as seen in his timeline of events – only allows for a 12-hour listening party that must have fewer than 300 people.

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