Digital Culture
Fyre Music Festival, the Worst (and Best) Promotion Ever
Talking about the Fyre Music Festival is one of my favorite pastimes. From the pure marketing genius to the controversial actions of Billy McFarland, the event doesn’t get enough recognition. Let’s talk about it.
When people ask, “what was the Fyre Festival?” I have trouble responding. See, the Fyre Festival was a pure figment of marketing idealism. As a product of branding in its purest form, it was everything that you could ask for. In literal terms, Fyre was a music festival with a scheme that flowed far beyond the depths of our perception.
Billy Mcfarland and rapper Ja Rule initially founded Fyre as a marketing ploy for their new celebrity booking app, Fyre. Essentially, they wanted to make the most incredible music festival known to man. In hypotheticals, the plan was breathtaking. Attendees would be flown out to a private island said to be owned by Pablo Escobar for the experience of a lifetime.
Pitched as the getaway of our dreams, guests would be fitted with luxury tents, private beach houses, and the opportunity to escape from reality. Of course, the “booked” musicians were eye-catching. Here are some of the artists that were included:
- Pusha T
- Tyga
- Desiigner
- Blink-182
- Major Lazer
- Disclosure
- Migos
- Rae Sremmurd
With a lineup like that, the internet went wild. However, the Fyre Festival’s influencer campaign set it apart from all other music events. In a promotion that Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Hailey Baldwin advertised, they pitched the outing as the crux of luxury culture. Linked here, the campaign featured a multitude of massive celebrities, influencers, and public figures alike.
The official Fyre Festival trailer…
The vast social media marketing strategy reached millions of people and practically broke the internet. The world was buzzing about Fyre, and tickets started to sell out. The pricing scaled up to $50,000 with added perks like:
- Backstage passes
- Dinner with a performer
- Private transport
- Luxury beach accommodations
As you can probably tell, absolutely none of this was delivered. Yes, customers who had paid five figures were essentially dumped on an island and left to fend for themselves. As you can probably imagine, the festival had some funding problems. With such a large emphasis put on marketing, they were left with little budget to pay for the festival itself.
In reality, the construction was critically understaffed, the accommodations continuously fell through, and the artists didn’t show up. The “luxury tent” was a pitched white tarp with a bare mattress. Their first-class dining included a bread and cheese sandwich with a side of salad, and the event as a whole was just a failure.
The excursion turned into the Hunger Games. Guests ran amok, trying to secure housing before others, and the situation eventually imploded. Left with no artists, little housing, and barely any food, the event was called off. McFarland was ultimately arrested for fraud, as he had sold a plan that he was unable to fund. A year-long project was crammed into eight weeks, and everything fell apart. McFarland eventually fled the construction site without paying any of the workers, and the airport ended up being overrun by hungry tourists who needed to get home from what was thought to be the most luxurious getaway that we’d ever seen.
In short, the festival was all bark and no bite. Their promotional tactics make this event the best, and worst festival ever.