The Fyre Festival has a new owner.
The long, strange journey of notorious music festival now has a new chapter that will include another famous band — LimeWire.
That’s right! The 2000s-era free peer-to-peer file sharing company that was hugely popular before being shut down over copyright infringement violations, has reportedly acquired the Fyre Festival brand moving forward.
In a news release seemingly acknowledging both brands colorful histories titled “LimeWire Acquires Fyre Fest Brand – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?,” their partnership announcement states, “Once synonymous with disruption in their own very different ways, LimeWire and Fyre are now poised to begin an entirely new chapter – one grounded in technology, transparency, and a sense of humor.”
LimeWire relaunched as a brand in 2022 with a new mission — to reinvent digital content sharing through decentralized infrastructure. The brand initially started off as an NFT service upon its return.
How Will LimeWire Use Fyre Festival?
In their announcement, it was spelled out that LimeWire does not intend to revisit past mistakes. Rather, they state that they want to take one of the “internet’s most infamous cultural memes” and save it from extinction by turning it into something new.
“Fyre became a symbol of hype gone wrong, but it also made history,” said Julian Zehetmayr, CEO of LimeWire. “We’re not bringing the festival back — we’re bringing the brand and the meme back to life. This time with real experiences and without the cheese sandwiches.”
Who Else Is Involved?
It’s notable that LimeWire were not the only bidding company trying to acquire the Fyre Festival brand. The creative agency, Maximum Effort, that was co-founded by actor Ryan Reynolds, had also sought to purchase the brand.
Reynolds shared after losing the bidding war, “Congrats to LimeWire for their winning bid for Fyre Fest. I look forward to attending their first event but will be bringing my own palette of water.”
However, according to Rolling Stone, Reynolds has still found a way to get involved in the LimeWire-Fyre Festival partnership. Zehetmayr revealed that Maximum Effort reached out after LimeWire outbid them and the two entities have since collaborated on a new Visa ad that Reynolds narrates, which reimagines Fyre’s slogan “It’s everywhere you want to be.”
Fyre Festival’s Troubled Past
The original Fyre Fest became the stuff of festival disaster legend. After being teased by social media influences and models, the booked bands started backing out in the days leading up to the event.
Promised concerts never happened, those who did travel to the event received inadequate accommodations, subpar catering and witnessed a lack of infrastructure. And one of the lasting images of the festival’s failure was that of a cheese sandwich that was shared by one attendee on social media.
Founder Billy McFarland later faced “lawsuits and criminal charges” due to the disastrous results of the first festival that led to his eventually serving jail time for fraud. He was eventually granted an early release from prison.
Earlier this year, McFarland began teasing a second Fyre Festival. But after two attempts at staging a Fyre Fest event fell through, McFarland began to re-examine the future of Fyre Fest. After initially selling a portion of the Fyre Festival branding for a streaming service, McFarland announced his intent in April to find a new buyer for the Fyre Fest brand.
READ MORE: DJ Reveals Why She Turned Down Fyre Fest 2 Offer
After a previous attempt at selling to a new buyer fell through, McFarland announced his intent to sell off the remaining branding through eBay. The bidding period lasted a week with the final winner of the Fyre Festival branding outlasting 175 bids placed by 42 bidders and paying $245,300.
Now it appears as though LimeWire has acquired the Fyre Festival branding.
What’s Next for Fyre Festival?
Though exact details on how the Fyre Festival brand would be employed were not revealed, LimeWire shared that over the coming months they will reveal their vision for the reimagined Fyre.
“Fyre became a symbol of everything that can go wrong. Now it’s our chance to show what happens when you pair cultural relevance with real execution,” added Marcus Feistl, COO of LimeWire.
A new website has launched for Fyre where you can sign up for exclusive updates and purchase merch.
15 Most Disastrous Music Festivals in History
Here are some of the most disastrous music festivals in history, many of which proved unacceptably arduous for attendees, but a handful of others that unfortunately turned tragic. You might remember many of these instances — others you may not know about yet. Keep reading to find out.
Gallery Credit: Philip Trapp