EXCLUSIVE: The Fyre Festival, the infamous music event founded by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule that was explored in two separate documentaries, is getting a new life as a music streaming service.
Deadline understands that Shawn Rech, who co-founded the TruBlue streaming service with former To Catch A Predator host Chris Hansen, has acquired some of the IP of the event including two trademarks that will allow him to launch the service.
The deal comes shortly after it emerged that the second iteration of the festival, which was set to take place in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, was postponed indefinitely.
“Music networks are all just programming now and I have no interest in watching people slip on bananas. It has nothing to do with music. I needed a big name that people would remember, even if it’s attached to infamy, so that’s why I bought these [trademarks] to start the streaming network,” he told Deadline.
“This isn’t about festivals or hype—it’s about putting the power of music discovery back in the hands of the fans,” Rech added. “We’re building something authentic and lasting.”
Rech has not acquired the festival itself, which is still owned by McFarland, who is searching for a new location for his second event. McFarland is expected to have a presence on the network.
Fyre Music Streaming
Shawn Rech
The platform will be a user submitted and fan curated service. This will include a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform, that will likely cost around $3.99 a month, as well as FAST networks. It will start with one FAST feed featuring pop music and hip hop, but in success the hope is to move into other genres such as heavy metal and spoken word. Anyone who is subscribed to the SVOD service can vote for artists to be featured on the FAST channel.
It will launch on Thanksgiving, which Rech said is when his other digital platforms have launched. “I’m superstitious,” he added.
Rech, who runs Transition Studios, previously launched TruBlue with Hansen, which runs series such as Takedown with Chris Hansen and Crime Stoppers. He’s also behind American Gospel TV.
The first iteration of Fyre Festival took place in 2017 on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas. Promoted by influencers including Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin, the event saw a great many problems involving accommodation, security and medical services, as well as food, as evidenced by a famous cheese sandwich.
As a result of the festival, which was set to feature artists including Blink 182 and Diplo’s Major Lazer, McFarland pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud to defraud investors and ticket holders, and a second count to defraud a ticket vendor and was sentenced to six years in prisons. He was released in March 2022 after serving less than four years.
The event inspired two documentaries that were released days apart in 2019 including Hulu’s Fyre Festivaldirected by Julia Willoughby Nason and Jenner Furst that was released on January 14 2019, and Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, which was directed by Chris Smith and came out four days later. Ample Entertainment and Fremantle were also working on a series about McFarland in 2022.
