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Fyre Festival Notes

Activity Notes Review Notes

Created @October 16, 2022 2:24 AM

The power of influencers / influence

Despite the lack of information and legitimacy, people came aboard the Fyre
Festival solely because of influence and influencers.

This gives the chance to participate in something “culturally relevant.”

FYRE FESTIVAL

supposed to be "the new Coachella / Burning Man Festival"

going to be held in the Bahamas

"an exclusive festival bordering on the impossible"

BILLY MCFARLAND

founder of Fyre Festival

born in New Jersey

was said to have "always been ahead of the curve" by his mother

Fyre Festival Notes 1

 Investigation was led by the Department of Justice, specifically the southern district of
New York — known as the "premiere office" of the DOJ.

McFarland blamed the poor weather and bad planning for the inconsistencies of the
Fyre Festival.
McFarland attended Bucknell University, which had a pitch competition. He created
the content for Spling, which gave off a "Google+ duplicate" vibe.

MAGNISES

the "millennials’ version of the black card"

"There was no business, just guys being in business."

Positive articles were heavily influenced by publicists and marketing teams.

These articles gave Billy an image of the "new entrepreneurial god of NYC."
Magnises cemented Billy's idea that he could make money off of defrauding millennials.

Aubrey McClendon — Billy's most important investor. He began receiving charges

for fraud and conspiracy.

Carola Jain — after McClendon's death, becomes one of the most important and
core seat investors for Billy.

Fyre Festival Notes 2

 FESTIVALS OF ART, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY
Woodstock
Monterey Pop
LiveAid, 80s
Lollapalooza, 90s
Burning Man, 90s
Coachella, 1999 - started the modern festival movement

FOMO

“fear of missing out”

invented by the social media paradigm

underlying anxiety that if you don't continue to escalate your visibility (online), your
identity will crumble

Millennials spend at least 2 hours browsing through social media a day.

"If you're not relevant in social media, you don't exist."

An influencer is someone who has effectively monetized their identity. Performing an

attractive life is their job. An influencer's brand is "the lifestyle they want to live."

Advertisement

FuckJerry (Jerry Media) — one of the social media personalities FYRE turned to for
advertising.
Ja Rule — American rapper who promoted the Fyre Festival. He was charged with a
lawsuit but avoided sanction when it was determined that he did not know at the time
that what he was selling did not exist as such.

Fyre Festival Notes 3

 Neon orange screen / squares — visual disruption used by FYRE; uploaded by
influencers on Instagram
Great Exuma, The Bahamas — where the Fyre Festival was supposed to be held; was
said to be once owned by Pablo Escobar.

They advertised grand villas that did not exist, even pricing as high up as $250 000.

Jerry Media and the other influencers claim to not know anything regarding the false
advertisement.

Wire Fraud

Billy was not wiring the money despite promising to. He could not pay third party
vendors, musical acts, and could not pay for proper accommodation — the mattresses
were reportedly stained, and the rooms had no air conditioning.

Despite the proof of the festival being a hoax, Fyre was always able to counter due to
the power of influence. They have also been able to silence media centers through
filtering and blocking.

Billy was charged with wire fraud by the FBI. He had at least 80 victim-investors due
to Fyre, which led to a loss of $24 million in total.

Since Magnises, he kept making misleading and deceiving statements. He claims to

have done things that were not true (saying they've had more than a hundred thousand
customers, wherein there was only 4 000 to 5 000 in reality).

Despite everything, he was found to have still been living a larger-than-life lifestyle.

Frank Tribble was a sort of "representative." He spoke to people on the phone so they
wouldn't recognize Billy's voice. Billy would give him a script.
"We live in an era where you can convince people to do anything, just on marketing
alone. But in its wake, it leaves real harm." - Oren Aks, ex-Jerry Media employee

Fyre Festival Notes 4

 "Do not focus on Billy alone. There are people who helped Billy commit fraud, so that
they can make their money." - attorney Ben Meiselas

AUF BMMA-1A officers

A.Y. 2022 - 2023

Please use this resource with integrity — for studying purposes only. All the best!

Fyre Festival Notes 5