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As it waffles over whether to hold its infamously scammy music festival, Fyre Festival is getting into the streaming business. Per Deadline, a Fyre-branded streaming service will launch later this year. Though we’re surprised that a reputable organization like Fyre would join the streaming revolution, as opposed to launching a memcoin or AI chatbot, Fyre says that the platform will be user-submitted and fan-curated, which, historically, is streaming for “we don’t want to pay people for their work,” but maybe Fyre, the company best known for serving roughly 5,000 cheese sandwiches to festival attendees after promising them a Bahamian getaway with Bella Hadid, will change those stereotypes. As Fyre enters the industry that’s spent 15 years squashing unions, ripping off artists, and flattening the popular arts of motion pictures and music into algorithmically generated slop, Shawn Rech, who “acquired” some of Fyre’s valuable IP, says this will be different.
Rech co-founded TrueBlue, the true crime streaming service with, who else, Chris Hansen from To Catch A Predator. He says, “This isn’t about festival and hype — it’s about putting the power of music discovery back in the hands of the fans.” Rech continues to say, under the name Fyre, “We’re building something authentic and lasting.” As for the name, Fyre, Rech says he “needed a big name people will remember, even if it’s attached to infamy.” Of course, users will have to offer up their credit cards if they want to see the words “Fyre” on their bank statements. Worry not, because Fyre is a name you can trust.
According to Deadline, the service will cost $3.99 and include a subscription video-on-demand service with free, ad-supported music channels that feature a voting component to elevate artists. Aside from the name, nothing makes Fyre appear sketchier than all the additional streaming services attached to it. But we digress. The service will launch on Thanksgiving because, as Rech told Deadline, other digital platforms launched that day, and Rech is “superstitious”—though not superstitious enough not to name his company after a scam music festival. Speaking of scams, Billy McFarland, who tricked 5,000 people into going to a fake music festival in the Bahamas, will be involved in some capacity.
Through it all, Fyre Festival 2 is involved in a will-they-won’t-they with existence. Last week, Playa del Carmen, the Mexican city that was allegedly supposed to host the event, denied that the festival was happening there. Meanwhile, festival organizers assured ticketholders that the festival was still happening. Then, McFarland accused Playa del Carmen officials of theft.
McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and admitted using fake documents to woo investors in 2018. Later that year, while on bail, he was caught selling counterfeit tickets to the Met Gala. Fyre, it’s a brand you can trust with your credit card information.
