AH Pop Culture: What if Fyre Festival was postponed to 2018?

[Gillan1220]

Just watched Fyre on Netflix regarding the infamous Fyre Festival of April 2017 which was known for its fraudalent advertising of an elite beach party in the Bahamas that turned out to be the "biggest clusterfuck" including half-finished left-over FEMA tents from Hurricane Matthew, improper luggage handling, delayed flights, and most importantly "gourmet" food that turned out to be cheese sandwhiches and undressed salad in a styrofoam container.

The documentary states that Billy McFarland, then the CEO of his own company and Fyre Media, refused to listen to the experts to postpone it to a year later for 2018 or 2019. Of course, we knew he got sued for this, got arrested, paid bail, and then got arrested again for running another scam.

Had he listened, could everything have been averted? Could Fyre Festival have succeded and rival Tomorrowland and Ultra Music Festival? Would those "rich millennials" been spared of internet marketing?

What do you guys think?

 

[ramones1986]

Make sure that Billy McFarland would secure stable financing, or it would become bust just like in OTL (and ended up in jail)

 

[Kalvan]

That he was re-arrested on the same charge suggests that this wasn't a lapse of judgment on McFarland's part, but rather an intentional fraud.

To suggest a more favorable setup and outcome to the Fyre Festival matter would imply fundamentally different personalities for its sponsors, Billy McFarland especially.

 

[Megafighter3]

I mean, I don't think a delay would save Fyre. I imagine not losing the Norman's Cay booking would help more.

 

[Kalvan]

It would probably have helped immensely if they hadn't marketed the intended venue in a way that hadn't pissed of the vast majority of locals something fierce...

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

If it had been postponed a year, they probably would have just blown through all the funds and fled town without even pretending to do the event.

 

[Gillan1220]

I mean, I don't think a delay would save Fyre. I imagine not losing the Norman's Cay booking would help more.

Maybe if they didn't use Pablo Escobar's name, they would not have lost Norman's Cay. Of course, McFarland wanted the hype so he had to use Narcos' main villain but that was a big loss to Fyre Fest.

It would probably have helped immensely if they hadn't marketed the intended venue in a way that hadn't pissed of the vast majority of locals something fierce...

I think if McFarland had listened to postpone it to a later date, it could have had a chance.

If it had been postponed a year, they probably would have just blown through all the funds and fled town without even pretending to do the event.

You're implying that Billy would just flee with the money if it had been postponed a year? How so? He was aiming for the "beach party of a lifetime" so I could not see him pull off this trick if one year had been allotted for it.

 

[GOU Limiting Factor]

The inherent problem of high-end music festivals is that they're chasing a limited pool of young-ish, rich-ish, kid-ish money. Timing matters, but also the profit margin is highly dependent on economizing wherever you can, and there are huge incentives to rip off your core market, because it's not particularly discerning or cost-conscious.

The best care for something like Fyre Festival would be 'mild disappointment' or 'lackluster compared to sticker price and promises', but as Kalvan points out, you would have to change the personalities of the prime movers to really make it 'succeed' in its own terms.

 

[Gillan1220]

The inherent problem of high-end music festivals is that they're chasing a limited pool of young-ish, rich-ish, kid-ish money. Timing matters, but also the profit margin is highly dependent on economizing wherever you can, and there are huge incentives to rip off your core market, because it's not particularly discerning or cost-conscious.

The best care for something like Fyre Festival would be 'mild disappointment' or 'lackluster compared to sticker price and promises', but as Kalvan points out, you would have to change the personalities of the prime movers to really make it 'succeed' in its own terms.

So what was the personality of Bill McFarland? He was stubborn and scheming as fuck. He never listened to his advisors and planners to give it a year or two and not just a mere five months. Ja Rule only made things worse. Those two needed a reality check before going to their overambitious music festival that had lots of potential when it started to advertise.

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

You're implying that Billy would just flee with the money if it had been postponed a year? How so? He was aiming for the "beach party of a lifetime" so I could not see him pull off this trick if one year had been allotted for it.

More like: completely burn through their cash given the extra year, fully intending to realize his grand dream, but realizing at T minus 3 months that nobody will front them any more money, and there isn't enough left for even tents or cheese sandwiches.

"Do you realize what this means, Billy? It means scandal, and bankruptcy, and prison. Prison, Billy! Somebody's going to prison, and it ain't gonna be me!!!"

 

[Gillan1220]

More like: completely burn through their cash given the extra year, fully intending to realize his grand dream, but realizing at T minus 3 months that nobody will front them any more money, and there isn't enough left for even tents or cheese sandwiches.

"Do you know what this means, Billy? It means scandal, and bankruptcy, and prison. Prison, Billy! Somebody's going to prison, and it ain't gonna be me!!!"

Damn, so there is no other way it could have succeeded then one way or another. Looks like Billy was just a pathological liar and scammer the whole time.