Most of you are probably aware of the Fyre Festival due to the Hulu and Netflix documentaries. However, if you’re unaware, the Fyre Festival was a failed music festival that occurred in the late spring of 2017 in the Bahamas. Details emerging from the music festival were horrid and included shortages of food, water, and sanitary stations. In essence, the Fyre Festival was the complete opposite of the luxurious experience that had been suggested or advertised by celebrities and social media influencers. Given the depth of this disparity, one may question who was responsible for this disaster and the general consensus is Billy McFarland. McFarland is a serial entrepreneur who founded Fyre Media and oversaw the organization of the Fyre Music Festival. McFarland is an intriguing character, as his innovation and foresight are admirable, they are ultimately overshadowed by his lack of morals and greediness. McFarland founded two companies, Magnises and Fyre Media. Magnises was a credit card company that was established in 2013. It targeted wealthy millennials or individuals who wanted to give the illusion of wealth. Magnises promised perks to their customers that included tickets to various athletic and theatrical events plus private dinners, however most of these promises went unmet. McFarland’s other entrepreneurial venture, Fyre Media, was an app that was supposed to revolutionize the entertainment industry by enabling individuals to book musical artists for private parties. McFarland was using the Fyre Music Festival as a means to promote his new app. Unfortunately, in the end, both of McFarland’s companies failed and the music festival was a complete disaster. He is currently serving a six-year jail sentence for felony federal fraud charges and is ordered to pay $26 million in restitution for misleading investors. As such, Billy McFarland is the perfect example of a snake oil salesman. These individuals tend to be slick talking and take advantage of customers for their own personal gain. It’s unfortunate that McFarland decided to use his talents this way, however his circumstance exemplifies why aspiring entrepreneurs and salespersons need to develop a personal code of ethics to avoid such situations.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fyre-festival-organizer-billy-mcfarland-sentenced-6-years-fraud-charges-n919086
Source: http://fortune.com/2017/08/30/fyre-festival-billy-mcfarland-magnises/
BoweryJE22
This is such an interesting (yet unfortunate) story. I really hope to watch the documentary soon. Like you said, it definitely is important for salesmen and entrepreneurs to stick to their morals and not let the opportunity for success go to their heads. Great post!
I recently watched the documentary on Netflix about Fyre, and was astounded at how things played out. The biggest shock to me was how McFarland reacted after they shut the festival down and all the legal aftermath that still didn’t deter him from trying more schemes.
I heard that Ja Rule (also part of the Fyre Scam) is attempting to successfully recreate Fyre, or what it should have been. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.