Fyre Case Study

Fyre Media, Inc.
Case Study and Analysis
April 14th, 2019
Executive Summary
Fyre Media, Inc. is a company created by CEO William Z. “Billy” McFarland, alongside
co-founder and rapper Jeffrey Bruce “Ja Rule” Atkins. The company focused primarily on their
booking app for music talent and created Fyre Festival with the intent of promoting this
application. However, the event ended up being a logistical failure and plunged the company into
a financial deficit ─ eventually leading to an SEC investigation, as well as bankruptcy. Attendees
and vendors ended up suing the company for millions and their reputation would eventually be
destroyed by public media coverage. Despite logistical failure, the Fyre Festival had superb
marketing by utilizing Influencer Marketing tactics and were able to achieve internet virality,
reaching millions of people with only 400 influencers.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Historical Overview of Fyre Media, Inc. …………………………………………………..……. 2
Feasibility Study
Statement of Facts ……………………………………………………………………………….. 3
Company Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Recommendation ………………………………………………………………………………. 12
Business Plan
Executive Summary……………...……………………………………………………………....13
Industry Overview……….…………………………………………………………..………..... 14
Market Analysis………………………………………………………………………………….15
Competitive Analysis…………………………………………………………………………….17
Sales & Marketing Plan……………………………………………………………………….... 19
Management Analysis…………………………………………………………………………... 23
Management Plan……………………………………………………………………………….. 23
Operations Analysis…………………………………………………………………………….. 30
Operation Plan………………………………………………………………………………….. 31
Financial Analysis………………………………………………………………………………. 37
Financial Plan…………………………………………………………………………………… 38
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………… 39
Appendices………….………………………………………………………………………….. 40
1

Introduction
Historical Overview of Fyre Media, Inc.
Fyre Media, Inc., is a company originally founded in 2015 by William Z. (Billy) McFarland that
is an on-demand service that “makes booking the most influential celebrities seamless and
transparent”.1
To promote the app, Billy and co-founder Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (also known as Ja
Rule), created a music festival known as Fyre Festival in 2017. It should be noted that Fyre
Media Booking and Fyre Festival were two separate entities under Fyre Media, Inc.
In the beginning with the use of Influencer Marketing, Fyre Festival achieved its original goal of
being an amazing tool to market their booking app. It was supposed to be a high-end, luxury
music festival, but ended up being complete logistical disaster. The festival, itself, exploded onto
social media in April 2017, but when time came for the festival to begin, attendees quickly
realized they did not get what they were originally promised. Attendees were quick to turn to
social media, and news of the disaster spread quickly. Soon afterwards, Fyre Media released an
official apology statement addressing the disaster and stating that the team was overwhelmed and
would do better for a 2018 Fyre Festival. Despite releasing these official apologies, some of the
individuals involved in the event went onto social media and attempted to deflect blame. For
example, co-founder Ja Rule (Jeffrey Bruce Atkins) went onto Twitter and stated that the event
was “NOT A SCAM” and “this is NOT MY FAULT”.3
Fyre Media, now, is underwater. The company has multiple lawsuits filed against them ─ two of
which are class action lawsuits. These lawsuits total to over potentially $X million in punitive
damages. Fyre Festival, LLC. one of the subsidiaries of Fyre Media, has also been forced into
Chapter 7 bankruptcy by the New York Southern Bankruptcy Court and is no longer allowed to
exist nor operate.4
In addition, all of Fyre Festival’s assets are to be liquidated.Founder and CEO
Billy McFarland has also been charged by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for
fraud. He has settled the case with the SEC and is now serving a 6 year prison sentence. He has
also agreed to a permanent director-and-officer-bar and must pay $27.4 million disgorgement.5
2

Feasibility Study
Statement of Facts
Fyre Media SEC Charges
According to press releases posted by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC), CEO and Founder William Z. (Billy) McFarland forged financial statements to induce
investors to invest a minimum of 27.4 million dollars into three of his companies; Fyre Media,
Inc., Fyre Festival, LLC, and Magnises, Inc.6
The SEC press release also states that McFarland
admitted to the SEC’s allegations and subsequently agreed to the disgorgement of 27.4 million
dollars.7
Fyre Media, Inc. Financial Statements Fraud
Benford’s law, an effective method of fraud detection, also concludes that Fyre’s financial
statements are indicative of fraud.8
Benford’s Law states that since humans are inefficient at
randomly generating numbers, the probability of the first digit of a number in listings, statistical
tables, and other data sets have an unequal chance of occurring ─ the probability that “1” is the
first digit for a number is 30.1 percent while the chance that “9” is the first occurring digit is 4.6
percent.10
In contrast to the probability of the first occurring digit, the probability that the last
occurring digit will be any of the numbers from “1” through “9” is equal ─ approximately 11.1
percent each number “1” through “9”.9
As seen on the initial digit distribution and final digit
distribution graphs below, the frequencies for the first and final digits are not in accordance with
Benford’s Law and indicate fraud.
3

Fyre Media Promises and Pitch Deck
Fyre Festival, LLC.’s pitch deck combines large amounts of generalities and promises. Take slide
7 of Fyre Media’s pitch deck for example. The slide states that “thousands of offers representing
tens of millions of
dollars of performances
and appearances have
been made and accepted
with Fyre”.12
These
generalities, which are
made throughout the
entirety of the pitch
deck, offer no specific
facts relating to the
actual amount of
revenue and bookings
that have been made
through Fyre. This calls
into question Fyre’s
actual performance
within the industry.
In addition to the generalities stated on Fyre’s pitch deck, there are multiple false claims. On
slide 30, the pitch deck
claimed that Fyre
possessed 8.4 million
dollars worth of land on
Black Point, Exuma.13
The land, which was
recorded on Fyre’s
unaudited financial
statements, was
fraudulently claimed.14
These impressive, false
claims on the pitch deck
and falsified financial
statements ultimately
induced investors into
investing in the
company.
5

Another major problem on
Fyre’s pitch deck is the lack of
appendices. Slide 31 of the
pitch deck, which was
allocated to provide financials,
stated to “please see
appendix”.15
Since the deck
lacked an appendix, no
financials were actually
provided, which created
suspicion around investors.
Compare Fyre’s pitch deck to
Airbnb’s, a company that
successfully raised capital.
Airbnb’s pitch deck provides
concise details about its
market, examples of its service, business model, and financials.16
Similarly, Facebook’s pitch deck also provides concise details about its market and current
usage. As seen on slides 14 through 17, specific numbers about users, site usage, and percentage
breakdown of users are included.17
These details provide a quantifiable aspect of what Facebook
has achieved thus far.18
Without the details, investors are not able to see the current position and
credibility of a company ─ only make estimates based off of generalities.
6

Fyre Festival, LLC. Involuntary Bankruptcy
In July of 2017, three of Fyre Festival’s creditors petitioned for the company’s involuntary
bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code (Case No. 17-11883).19
Chapter 7,
involuntary bankruptcy occurs when a debtor has at least 12 creditors and at least 3 of those
creditors sign a petition to put said debtor under Chapter 7, involuntary bankruptcy, the debtor
owes at least $14,425, and that the debtor has not been paying debts owed.20
In Fyre Festival’s case, Andrew Newman, John Nemeth, and Raul Jimenez signed a petition on
behalf of more than 20 creditors who lent Fyre Festival 4 million dollars to force it into
involuntary bankruptcy.21
The creditors were represented by Robert Knuts of Sher Tremonte
LLP.22
In accordance with the procedures of Chapter 7, involuntary bankruptcy, Judge Martin
Glenn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York ordered Fyre Festival
to provide a list of whom it owes money to.23
Following the provision of the list, the U.S. trustee
of the Southern District of New York (the person responsible for gathering and distributing the
bankrupt’s assets to creditors), Gregory M. Messer, liquidated Fyre Festival’s remaining assets
and distributed the subsequent funds to the petitioning creditors.24
Finally, after Fyre Festival’s creditors received payment from Gregory M. Messer, Fyre Festival
was terminated in accordance with the Chapter 7 bankruptcy procedures.25
In essence, Fyre
Festival, LLC. no longer exists.
Lawsuits against Fyre Media, Inc.
As any socially irresponsible business would, Fyre Media, Inc. and Fyre Festival, LLC. faced
multiple lawsuits. These lawsuits are filed by festival attendees, contracted organizations, and
investors alike. By the end of 2017, there were eleven accounted lawsuits filed against Billy
McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins (also known as Ja Rule), Fyre Media, Inc., Fyre LLC. and others in
relation with the production. Out of these ten lawsuits, over half of them were sued for breach of
contract and all plaintiffs ultimately lost over tens of thousands of dollars in dealing with this
business. A summarized list of the cases can be found below:
1. Daniel Jung v. Billy McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins, and Fyre Media, Inc.
a. $100,000,000 for Class Action Complaint: (1) fraud, (2) negligent
misrepresentation, (3) breach of contract, (4) breach of the covenant of good faith
and fair dealing 26
2. Chelsea Chinery, Shannon McAuliffe and Desiree Flores v. Fyre Media, Inc., Billy
McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins, Matte Projects, LLC.
a. Unagreed upon monetary and nonmonetary (declaratory or injunctive relief)
damages for Class Action Complaint: (1) breach of contract, (2) violation of
California business and profession code, (3) fraud - negligent misrepresentation,
(4) fraud 27
3. Andrew Petrozziello v. Fyre Media, Inc., Fyre Festival, LLC, Jeffrey Atkins, Billy
McFarland
a. $5,000,000 for Class Action Complaint: (1) New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act -
deception by omission, (2) New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act - deception by
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misrepresentation, (3) breach of contract, (4) breach of implied covenant of good
faith and fair dealing 28
4. Matthew Herlihy and Anthony Lauriello v. William McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins, Grant
Margolin, Fyre Media, Inc.
a. $5,000,000 for Class Action Complaint: (1) false representations, (2) material
omissions, (3) negligence regarding the “Fyre Festival” and their failure to
organize, prepare and provide attendees with the experience being marketed 29
5. National Event Services v. Fyre Festival, LLC, Fyre Media, Inc., Jeffrey Atkins,
William “Billy” McFarland
a. $250,000 and punitive damages for Complaint: (1) breach of contract and the
covenant of good faith and fair dealing, (2) unjust enrichment, (3) fraud in the
inducement, (4) fraudulent misrepresentation, (5) negligent misrepresentation 30
6. Kenneth Reel and Emily Reel v. Billy McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins, Fyre Media, Inc.,
Fyre Festival, LLC, Matte Projects
a. $25,000 for Class Action Complaint: (1) fraudulent misrepresentation, (2)
fraudulent misrepresentation, (3) negligent misrepresentation, (4) fraud in the
inducement, (5) breach of contract, (6) violation of the Florida Unfair and
Deceptive Trade Practices Act, (7) Violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. 31
7. Seth Crossno and Mark Thompson v. William McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins, Fyre Media,
Inc., Grant Margolin, Swift Air LLC
a. $5,000,000 for Complaint: (1) fraud and deceit, (2) fraud - negligent
misrepresentation, (3) breach of contract, (4) breach of implied covenant of good
faith and fair dealing, (5) negligence, (6) unfair and deceptive trade practices,
N.C. Gen. Stat., (7) civil conspiracy/facilitation of fraud 32
8. EHL Funding LLC v. Fyre Festival, LLC, Fyre Media, Inc.
a. $3,791,000 for Complaint: failure to pay loan 33
9. Oleg Itkin v. Fyre Media, Inc., Fyre Festival, LLC, William McFarland
a. $950,000 for Complaint: failure to pay a retainer fee 34
10. Tablelist, Inc v. Fyre Media, Inc., William McFarland, Grant Margolin, Carola Jain,
Jeffrey Atkins
a. $3,500,000 for Complaint: (1) breach of contract, (2) fraudulent deceit 35
One of the more notable lawsuits came from plaintiff Daniel Jung along with over 150 other
plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit, suing Billy McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins, and Fyre Media, Inc.
for $100 million in a class action complaint. Jung filed a lawsuit on the grounds of fraud,
negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, and breach of covenant of good faith and fair
dealing.36
From this case alone, it is evident that rebranding “Fyre” is far from feasible. Instead,
the festival was sued because it ended up being a dystopia.
Following Jung’s case, plaintiffs Chelsea Chinery, Shannon McAuliffe and Desiree Flores also
filed a lawsuit against McFarland et al. In suing McFarland, their case also addresses the impact
social media promotions had on the market and imply that: (1) the reason so many people were
hurt was because of the misrepresentative promotions, and (2) influencers should have been
more ethical and should not have worked with Fyre had they known it was not going to live up to
its promises.36
8

While the founders of the company were held legally and financially responsible, so were some
Fyre Media, Inc. and Fyre Festival, LLC employees. The company owes a little over $150
million in lawsuits alone. Through further analysis of the cases, it is evident that this business
was negligent and did not have an understanding of the consequences they would face with the
decisions they made. It was made clear in these lawsuits that many people were not satisfied with
the company and it will take a lot of legal motion to close these cases. The business owes
millions in lawsuits alone, which solidifies the argument that this business is not feasible.
Marketing Status
Currently, Fyre Media holds no rights to Fyre Festival’s Instagram page ─ now owned by Oren
Aks.37
This means that any social media impressions made on the page no longer relates to Fyre
Media.38
Fyre Festival’s quality marketing is
what induced festival goers into buying
tickets. Their marketing campaign utilized
400 influencers to spread awareness about
the festival.39
These influencers include
Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and many
other similar faces.40
While Fyre Festival’s marketing campaign
was extremely successful, it consumed a
significant portion of the funds provided by
investors. Approximately $4.5 million was
spent on the marketing campaign, but Fyre
Media Inc. no longer has about 20% of the money fundraised.41
In addition to losing ownership
of the Instagram page, Fyre Media lost the Fyre Festival trademark in May 2018.42
This means
that the famed “Fyre Festival” name can no longer be used by Fyre Media to market their events.
Financial Status
Fyre Media’s financial status cannot be exactly determined due to the fraudulent nature of its
financial statements.43
Through SEC documents, it was found that CEO Billy McFarland raised
$7.9 million for Fyre Media and $16.3 million for Fyre Festival.44
An estimate was compiled of
all assets and liabilities provided in the appendices.
9

Company Analysis
Based on available public information, Fyre Media, Inc. and
Fyre Festival, LLC. are not viable companies today. Due to the
heavy association with fraud and unfulfilled promises, fixing a
company this far in debt and lawsuits is hardly feasible. The
insincere apology from the company did not effectively
reassure the public of a promising action plan to refund festival
goers and the people of Exuma. There was mention of another
Fyre Festival already being planned for 2018, but it is unheard
of in terms of whether or not it was actually successful, or if it
even happened. Upon researching Fyre Festival 2018, no
articles discussing the event nor official promotion can be
found online. Instead, there are parodies mocking the reality of
Fyre Festival 2017 and news about former CEO Billy
McFarland’s arrest.
Quite frankly, there was a lack of mature and respectable leadership within Fyre Festival which
led to its demise. The senior organizers were uneducated when it came to event planning and
management, and they were too immature to accept the reality that the festival would be a failure
with the given time and money they had. The lack of details in the leaked pitch deck furthers this
argument and can be interpreted to say that Fyre left it vague because they themselves did not
know the answers.
In addition, McFarland did not communicate with his
employees that the financial statements were actually falsified.
This lack of transparency between McFarland and Fyre
Festival’s employees ultimately led the employees to believe
in the feasibility of the festival. But, as the company
approached the festival date, employees realized the actual
state of Fyre Festival.45
A Fyre Festival employee revealed
that the company was more
focused on marketing the
luxury aspect of the
festival instead of planning
basic infrastructure and
stating that top social
media influencers were
paid up to around $250,000
and others paid around
$30,000.46
The festival’s senior organizers also spent millions
on a plane, yacht, and other goods for marketing.47
A toilet
and shower supplier that was almost contracted by Fyre
Festival reportedly told these organizers that it would cost
upwards of $1 million to order the amenities alone - not
10

including the cost for shipping and disposal of waste.48
So, when it came time to deliver, the
organizers had insufficient funds to provide these basic necessities.
Other employees stated that Fyre Festival’s work environment among the senior organizers
mimicked a fraternity rather than an actual business.49
This type of work environment was a large
factor as to why Fyre Festival did not succeed in its product delivery - the senior organizers
“would talk about f***ing b**ches and h**s in conference meetings” rather than actual event
planning.50
The festival’s senior organizers’ lack of urgency to plan the actual event is seen
through what they delivered - social media posts reveal the cheap tents, lack of quality amenities,
and the prepackaged food.
Overall, the lawsuits filed against Fyre Media, Inc. et al resulted in a loss of about $150 million
and reflected the dissatisfaction from festival goers and relevant businesses alike. A few of the
common complaints in these cases included fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of contract.
These lawsuits resulted from promotional promises that were not met by the company. Along
with the failure to meet expectations, Fyre Festival also faced lawsuits due to its financial
corruption. The breach of contract complaints stemmed from the exchange of large amounts of
money for a luxury experience which clearly did not happen. Along the same lines, Fyre Festival
was sued for fraud and negligence because of the lies about the status of the event and about the
reasons why people should, for example, put money on their bracelets.
Altogether, the combination of Fyre Festival’s lousy leadership, lack of transparency with
employees, falsified documents, exaggerated claims, fraternity-esque work environment, and
amount of lawsuits against Fyre pushed it to failure. The senior advisors spent a significant
portion of Fyre Festival’s funds on personal expenses rather than on the event itself, which
subsequently led to a lack of funds for the festival. With little time and funds to organize
infrastructure and provide necessities and amenities, the festival’s organizers cancelled the event.
All of the above could have been avoided if the company had quality, experienced leaders and a
sufficient amount of capital. Since most of Fyre Festival’s initial capital was falsified, the
company only had the funds provided by investors - approximately $24.4 million.51
Also, it was
estimated that the company would need at least a minimum of $50 million to meet the lowest of
expectations for the festival.52
Even though all of the factors above can be avoided and reapplied to a second festival, Fyre
Festival would not be able to deliver since the company was terminated under Chapter 7 of the
federal Bankruptcy Code.53
Because of its termination, the company no longer exists and has no
viable future. On top of that, Fyre Festival does not own the Fyre Festival Instagram page
meaning investors would have to start a new marketing campaign.54
Fyre Media, on the other
hand still exists, but it is no longer viable due to the $146.1 million in lawsuits and the lack of a
pre-existing marketing campaign.55
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Recommendations
Investors should refrain from providing Fyre Media, Inc., the parent company of Fyre Festival,
LLC., with any additional capital since the company owes $146.1 million dollars in lawsuits.56
Since Fyre Festival no longer exists due to Chapter 7, involuntary bankruptcy, the festival
portion of the company cannot be taken into consideration when evaluating Fyre Media Inc.’s
viability.57
In addition to not being able to operate out of Fyre Festival, Fyre Media Inc. no longer
owns the “Fyre Festival” social media page or the Fyre Festival trademark.58 59
According to a researcher cited in Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, the suggested steps to overcome resistance to change include:
gaining support of the most powerful individuals in the organization, educating the workforce
while focusing on reducing individual fears, getting employees to find meaning behind the
change initiative, providing feedback for change efforts and rewarding successful change at
regular intervals, and shifting from episodic to continual change once a successful change has
occurred to reduce future barriers to change.60
By following these steps, Fyre Media should be
able to more successfully improve from its current state to eventually become more of a feasible
company. It is not advised to work for Fyre Media, Inc. until new management has been
established. Should persons apply to work at Fyre, they should be people open to criticism with
drive to rebrand a previously fraudulent company.
12

Business Plan
Due to our conclusion from the Feasibility Study, it is impossible to acquire and redo Fyre
Festival at this moment in time. Instead, the best course of action is to create a business plan for
Fyre Festival from the moment they failed - just before they issued their apology letter to the
public. This business plan will be executed as if none of the lawsuits against Fyre Media, Inc.
were and ever will be filed and the vendors that Fyre Media owed were completely repaid.
Executive Summary
Following the events of Fyre Festival 2017, Fyre Media, Inc. will need to look to rebrand and
reorganize in order to regain public trust. Fyre Media will be looking to switch strategies to focus
more on Fyre Festival and look to sell the intellectual property for Fyre Bookings. However, as a
direct result of Founder and CEO William Z. McFarland’s misuse of funds, the company will
need to look to distance themselves from McFarland, as well as co-founder Jeffrey Bruce Atkins.
This business plan will look to address the issues with strategy, branding and marketing, and
operations. We will also look to analyze the industry as a whole, current marketing tactics, and
competition. Finally, we will be outlining an operational and budget plan.
Industry Overview
The music festival industry is currently extremely competitive with over 600 music festivals in
the United States, alone.61
According to Billboard in 2015, over 32 million people attended at
least one U.S. music festival every year. The live music industry is also expected to grow from
$9.28 billion (in 2015) in revenue to $11.99 billion by 2021.62
Music festivals have also proven to
bring a boost in local economies by bringing more tourists, prolonging the tourists season, and
attracting investors. This all has major benefits for local communities by increasing engagement
and preserving local culture.63
According the the Tourism
Area Life Cycle (TALC),
also known as Butler’s
model, there a six stages to
the life cycle of live events,
such as music festivals.
These are: involvement,
exploration, development,
consolidation, stagnation,
and post-stagnation which
emcompasses either
rejuvenation or decline.d
During the exploration
stage, there will be a few
tourists who are initially
attracted to a destination
due to a natural feature and
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will usually only attract a very specific type of visitor. Next, the destination will progress to
minimal interactions with tourists and local community, resulting in only basic services
(involvement stage). However, increased advertisement can induce a pattern of seasonal variation
- when tourists will come seasonally to visit - thus, creating a definite market. In the development
stage, growth begins to settle (it is the last stage where continued growth occurs), and there is a
noticeable development of additional tourist facilities and increased promotional efforts. This is
also where the number of tourists will outnumber local residents at peak seasons. During
consolidation, the area retains its visitor numbers; however, the growth in attendance might not
be as rapid. By this point, tourism has become a major component of the local economy. After,
stagnation occurs and peak numbers of tourists, as well as capacity levels, are reached. The
destination has a well-established image, but is no longer popular and, finally, the destination
will reach the post-stagnation stage, with options that range from rejuvenation to decline.
By knowing and utilizing the TALC, tourist-reliant destinations will usually look to keep the
cycle going, as their local economy will become dependent on tourists to support the local
businesses in the area. Declines in the TALC usually occur due to factors such as carrying
capacity, location, tourist base, and destination management. Therefore, areas reliant on tourism
should look to either maintain this cycle by introducing more related tourism events and/or
destinations, or make an effort to ensure the rejuvenation and longevity of the currently TALC.
Music festivals are also considered to be a luxury good - where economic demand increases
proportionally with income, as income rises. Additionally, according to Nielsen’s data, of the
approximately 32 million people that attend at least one music festival in the U.S. every year,
46% are aged 18-32 (the millenial age bracket).64
The most successful music festivals also
typically targets “hardcore” fans. It was found that music festivals attendance follows the Pareto
Principle or the “80/20 rule”.65
Where 20% of all festival-goers attend 5-6 festivals per year (our
“hardcore” attendees), 50% attend two to three a year, and casual-goers attend once a year.
Therefore, when targeting for a specific market, it is likely best to target the more affluent and
younger generation of “hard-core” music festival-goers. By doing so, there will be a solid base of
attendees who will also attract their friends.
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Market Analysis
As found in the Industry Overview section, the best audience to target is the 18-34 demographic
and, in general, an 18+ market, altogether. However, there are still a couple of things to consider
within the entire industry. For this, Porter’s Five Forces will be used to analyze market and their
competition as a whole, and will account for buyers, suppliers, competition, substitutes, and new
entrants.
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Due to the saturation of the music festival market - there are over 600+ music festivals in the
United States, alone - the bargaining power of buyers is extremely high. Buyers are at liberty to
pick and choose which festival they would like to attend. This makes it more difficult for Fyre
Festival to capture the target audiences they would like to. In order to capture their audience,
Fyre Media Inc.’s marketing plan would have to deploy niche marketing to ensure that they can
capture a solid foundation of attendees. Niche marketing is marketing that purposefully markets
towards a narrowly defined group of potential customers.66
Although, it should be noted that if
the niche marketing strategy is handled poorly, they would be unable to capture this narrow
audience, and the strategy would also alienate the broader audience if the strategy is too targeted.
Fyre Media Inc. was able to do the impossible and capture an audience of highly affluent
millennials through their use of influencer marketing - a tactic that utilizes individual
contributors with a large social media presence and following to market a product or brand. This
type of marketing, in tandem with their use of niche marketing through product differentiation -
their promise of a luxurious music festival that would “exceed all expectation” and creating a
product that would be only accessible by the extremely wealthy - was found to be extremely
successful.67
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
For Fyre Media Inc., bargaining power of suppliers is also high. Unfortunately, due to the recent
failure of Fyre Festival 2017, Fyre is not at liberty to pick and choose who supplies them as
15

much. Due to their reputation, they have less bargaining power because companies and vendors
are unlikely to work with the brand. Additionally, music artists and other people within the
entertainment industry would likely stay away from the brand and festival because they would
not want to be associated with the disaster.
In general, music artists are at great liberty with high bargaining power versus music festivals
because the artists become a big portion of the festival’s marketing. The music artists that choose
to perform at festivals can make or break the success of the festival. Therefore, if musicians
decide they do not want to work with Fyre, Fyre would be bound to fail because it would not be
able to generate enough market demand for their potential audience.
Competitive Analysis
Threat of Substitutes
Threat of Substitutes for Fyre Festival is extremely high. Considering there are hundreds of other
competing music festivals in the United States, Fyre is at high risk. Fyre Festival 2017’s primary
risk, in regards to substitutes, are especially high because they were attempting to reach a much
more affluent demographic - with the price range of tickets from $1000 all the way up to
$250,000. In addition, despite the extremely high price tag, Fyre Festival 2017 was unable to
deliver a superior product. In fact, they generally delivered a worse product. Examples of
notable, more successful substitutes would be Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), and
Tomorrowland. These are all considerably cheaper than Fyre Festival 2017 was - with
Coachella’s VIP Tier pass being $899 in 2017.68
In comparison to Fyre Festival 2017’s highest
tier ticket costing an upwards of $100,000.69
Threat of New Entrants
Considering the scale and difficulty of organizing, planning, and executing a music festival, the
threat of new entrants into the music festival industry is low. As previously stated, with over 600
16

other music festivals there is high competition and a high barrier to entry into the market.
Without having a differentiation plan, it is extremely unlikely for new entrants to easily enter.
Threat of Competitive Rivalry
The music festival industries’ threat of competitive rivalry is extremely high. With so many
options, festivals are competing against each other for festival-goers to attend. Even with the
“hardcore” market, these individuals only attend five to six festivals a year. As a result, branding
and marketing needs to be extremely successful at convincing consumers to attend their festival
over another. For Fyre Festival 2017, Fyre Media Inc. was able to capture the extremely affluent
market by utilizing influencer marketing tactics. However, because of the massive failure in
execution, they wasted this opportunity and will now have to work to regain public trust.
Marketing and Competition Analysis Conclusion
Considering the difficulty of entering the market, Fyre Media Inc. has done an amazing job with
its branding and marketing. Their ability to generate virality on social media and utilize
influencer marketing tactics to capture a niche audience of high affluent millennials gave them
an edge in comparison to their competition.
Taking into consideration their product marketing, however, Fyre Media Inc. extremely
overestimated their capability to plan, operate, and execute an event at such a large scale. While
the marketing was successful in getting the consumers to buy their product, they misrepresented
the product that was delivered in the end. However, it is not completely the marketing
department’s job as they were delivering what was specified of them. Miscommunication and
lack of leadership amongst the Fyre Media staff was ultimately the company’s downfall. The
employees needed to stand up to their bosses and point out the flaws in the operation and what
was promised in marketing to do the customers justice.
As a direct result of the Fyre Festival failure, their use of influencer marketing backfired.
Following the events of Fyre Festival, attendees quickly took to social media, attacking both the
company and the celebrities involved in the influencer marketing campaign. Due to the public
sentiment of Fyre, at the moment, Fyre Media absolutely must issue an apology statement to the
public and pay the vendors that helped organize and set up the event.
17

Sales & Marketing Plan
Sales Strategy
Unlike before, as a result of Fyre’s diminished reputation, it would not be wise to try and create
another grandiose festival. It would highly unlikely for customers to trust Fyre Media to execute
a huge event. As a result, Fyre Festival will look to start small, once again, to regain consumer
trust and rebuild the reputation and brand. Fyre Festival will look to differentiate itself from
other competitors by utilizing both the brand’s notoriety and unique goal of trying to boost a
local economy. However, while the brand is looking to regain public trust through smaller
events, we will look to eventually build our way back up to larger scale events.
Additionally, Fyre Media Inc. will be utilizing the Pareto Principle for the ticket sales strategy.71
Fyre will have a three tiers for ticket sales - Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Fyre will be supplying 800
tickets for Gold, 2000 tickets for Silver, and 1200 tickets for Bronze. In the beginning, only
presale tickets for VIP and Silver will be open - these tickets will also get added perks such as
food coupons and free merchandise, such as posters. Gold tickets will also include a VIP
package that gives the holder access to VIP hangout zones and a free t-shirt and poster. These
members will also get VIP parking near the venue, as well. Finally, after one month, bronze sales
will open and they will only get admission to the festival with no additional perks.
This strategy to selling tickets is revolved around the fact that we will be utilizing influencer and
niche marketing tactics that will target the more “hardcore” festival fanbases. Additionally, we
will be marketing the fact that we will be giving up $1.50 per ticket sale to a charity of their
choice.
Marketing Strategy
We will not be looking to aim for the extremely affluent market again. Instead, we will target
more broadly towards the entirety of the “hardcore” music festival-goers demographic. We will
be looking to utilize the “80/20 rule” to additionally help with our marketing initiative. This is
due to our new sales strategy of starting much smaller to rebuild trust and faith in the branding. If
we wanted to target a more affluent demographic, we would want to make the event much more
extravagant. Because we will be pivoting towards this sales strategy, however, it will be much
more effective to cater towards “hardcore” festival-goers to make use of the “80/20 rule”.70
Marketing Plan
2017: Repairing Public Relations
May
● Post Apology/PR Statement
○ Shows that Fyre Media is taking responsibility for its actions 72
○ Announce that the company is under new leadership
June
● Host press conference
○ Improve Fyre transparency and use as damage control to outline what went wrong
■ Talk about the action plan to improve what we are changing
18

○ Rebuild public trust by showing that Fyre has new owners that are against the
actions of William Z. McFarland and Jeffrey Bruce Atkins
○ Announce that we will be releasing all non-sensitive documents relating to our
acquiring of Fyre
July
● Release all non-sensitive documents relating to Fyre Media, Inc. and Fyre Festival, LLC.
○ Transparency - improves the public’s view on Fyre
August
● Release mission statement to the public
○ “Igniting an impactful experience that highlights diversity and culture through the
celebration of art and cuisine.”
● Release values to the public
○ Future: We seek to develop a retransformation of ourselves moving forward from
the negative energies to face the present challenges of today. To look forward and
hope to gain back the trust of the surrounding diverse communities and beyond.
○ You: We strive to celebrate the diversity of the individuals and promote inclusion
and equity amongst all. We celebrate the unique traits of everyone, regardless of
race, social status, or culture. We gather all of these differences into one event and
celebrate them through art.
○ Reignite: We aim to rebuild our reputation and exemplify our renewed values of
diversity and culture among our local communities and beyond. We are driven to
empower togetherness and family across all origins.
○ Excite: We are committed to creating an experience that is memorable for all. By
showcasing our values, we aim to create excitement surrounding our difference.
We plan with the intent to inspire, connect, and celebrate the traits that make us
individuals.
September
● Announce new board members
○ Post a video of all new members of Fyre Festival describing why they joined and
what actions they are going to take to regain trust of customers
■ Give Fyre a face and make our brand more personable
November
● Question and answer with investors to rebuild trust amongst internal and external
appearance of rebrand.
○ Full transparency with investors as the company begins new logo and company.
○ Announce to investors and internal company of future steps as the brand is
preparing for the new event in September of the next year.
December
● Finalize brand logo design
○ New logo to rebrand Fyre Festival and the Fyre name to show that the company
has moved on from the previous owners and has a new symbol to represent it
○ New professional logo for the Fyre Media parent company with a “refresh arrow”
symbol that symbolizes a restart and change in the philosophy of Fyre
○ New Fyre Festival logo for all of the media, flyers and advertisements that will
represent the event we are holding
19

2018: Continue to Repair Public Relations
January
● Upload website rebrand with preparation of the new logo transition.
○ Finish complete rebrand of company and public figures. The complete separation
from past experiences of the failure of the previous event.
February
● Have scheduled artists leak event details on social media (Throughout the month)
○ Ex: “Do you guys remember Fyre Festival…”
■ Start media buzz about the event and spark curiosity
March
● Release full artist roster (beginning of the month)
○ Post that on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Website, Facebook)
● Creation of clothing and merch sales begin with rebrand and lineup
April
● Announce when tickets will be available and what time
○ Post on all social media platforms when presale is going to happen (Instagram,
Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Website)
May
● Set up live stream of festival construction
○ To demonstrate transparency
○ This differentiates us from the previous process of Fyre and shows that we began
construction and planning of the event well before it begins to show our
preparation
July
● Continue with the live stream of festival construction
August
● End construction livestream
● Release content from venue to build the social media anticipation for the event
○ Post videos of the finished music festival venue on all social media platforms
(Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Website, Facebook)
○ To demonstrate credibility and transparency
September (Festival)
● Post photos and videos on all social media platforms for the countdown of the music
festival (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Website)
○ To get the audience excited about the music festival
● Livestream the Festival on Youtube to show how the festival is going and bring positive
publicity and transparency to the Fyre Festival and company
● Post photos and videos of the event on all social media platforms to show viewers online
and people who did not attend what they missed out on
○ This will boost marketing for our next event
October
● Post recap of the festival on social media platforms, showing artists, audience, vendors
20

○ Showing the success of the festival
● Send a post thanking all the vendors, sponsors, artists, and customers for collaborating
with them
● Analysis of most recent festival;
○ What went right/wrong with the most recent festival
○ Fix errors and prepare for the next festival using best assets
November
● Advertise next Fyre Festival date and location
○ Using social media platforms, such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat,
Website
December
● Set up live stream of festival construction
○ This differentiates us from the previous process of Fyre and shows that we began
construction and planning of the event well before it begins to show our
preparation
2019: Road to the Next Festival
January
February
● Post videos of the finished music festival venue on all social media platforms (Instagram,
Twitter, Snapchat, Website, Facebook)
March (Festival)
April
with them
21

May
Website
June
● Set up live stream of building the festival in the venue and the preparation of the event
July
August
● Post videos of the finished music festival venue on all social media platforms (Instagram,
Twitter, Snapchat, Website, Facebook)
September (Festival)
October
with them
November
Website
December
● Set up live stream of building the festival in the next venue
22

Management Analysis & Plan
Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is used to analyze and restructure the key processes of a
business with the benchmark of consciously striving for optimal efficiency. This benchmark will
work to increase overall Return on Investment (ROI) as a boost in customer satisfaction is
forecasted upon the implementation of various new softwares and technologies.73
A BPR
promotes four options that coincide with the Leavitt’s Diamond Model which will work to
improve internal processes in terms of structure, tasks, human capital, and information
technology.
Process/Tasks
Fyre Festival did not have a set process or plan going into the project planning for the festival. In
fact, they had less than 6 months total to make the event a success. However, instead of putting
their investment money into the event planning and coordination, Fyre Media spent it on their
marketing campaign - paying for Instagram influencers and models to help market their
campaign, as well as blowout trips to the islands that apparently occurred every other weekend.
According to ex-employees, official planning for the festival did not actually start until roughly
two months before the date the festival was to occur. By this time, most of their funds had been
squandered.74
Given the previous process failures and inefficiencies of Fyre Festival, the most appropriate
actions is to seemingly provide more organization and structured delegation of responsibilities to
workers. The biggest process failure was inadequate resource management for Fyre Festival.
Fyre should also look to automate and informate business processes through the implementation
of Workday, Intellitix-Event Management Software, and Zendesk-Integrated Customer Support.
23

Fyre Festival needed more proper resource allocation and risk management. Despite having done
none of the event planning, they went ahead and wasted most of their investment funds on their
marketing. While it worked extremely well, they no longer had to funds to deliver the product
they promised their customers. Additionally, they did not account for project risks and failed to
realize that 6 months, much less, 2 months was not enough time to plan and execute an event of
such grandiose proportions. Some of the details they promised their customers would require
much more infrastructure work being put into the island and there was no way this could be
feasibly done within the time allotted.
Workday is a multi-faceted software geared towards optimizing the efficiency of business
planning, human capital management, and financial management.75
Implementing this software
will work to identify skill gaps and help re-allocate human capital within the current Fyre
Festival staff. This will serve to improve the aspects of structure, tasks, and human capital
outlined in the Leavitt’s Diamond Model. The importance of identifying skill gaps and
re-allocating human capital of the current staff is to optimize workflow processes in terms of
internal task execution within each committee. By utilizing Workday, Fyre Festival will hold the
ability to integrate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and track the progress of those KPIs
through the collection and analysis of individual employee data.
Identifying inefficient processes that may lead to bottlenecks are an essential component in
working to create solutions that promote an improvement in overall customer satisfaction and
ROI. The implementation of Intellitix, an event management software, will eliminate bottlenecks
by both expediting customer check-in and offering a cashless event experience that will process
sales at a faster rate. By utilizing wristbands with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
technology, Fyre Festival will have the ability to collect data points from individual attendants in
order to analyze and improve festival experience in the future. Implementing this software is
again hyperfocused on improving customer satisfaction and retention.76
The implementation of Zendesk-Integrated Customer Support will be a key component in
working to improve customer relations with Fyre Festival, considering the fragile state of its
relation with the public. Zendesk offers live chat features and call center software united on one
platform to provide customers with a seamless support experience.77
The integration of customer
support software will provide transparency and resolve prior issues of inefficient communication
between the customer and Fyre Festival. As customers utilize this platform, data will be collected
and applied towards personalizing guest experiences at future festival events.
Structure
Company structure is essential in order to execute jobs efficiently. Because the structure for Fyre
is private, we can assume (with roughly 50 employees) that they utilized a functional hierarchy
system to coordinate this event. The company was managed under CEO Billy McFarland with a
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Chief Creative Officer (CCO), Chief Revenue Officer (CRO),
and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) under him. Finally, with other positions under these four
C-level executives created, such as digital production manager, talent director, product engineer,
etc.
24

This form of structural hierarchy can be effective if qualified people are put into these positions.
However, it can be heavily reliant on internal communication between all positions with their
superiors. The purpose of implementing a functional hierarchy is to take advantage of the
abilities and to place them into areas where they can succeed with the knowledge and experience
they already possess.78
It is important to move forward by filling these positions with qualified
people who communicate well in order to prevent disputes between employees and make work
more efficient.
Fyre can continue with using a functional hierarchy for future plans, but will be critical for the
company to employ more experienced and knowledgeable people to prevent the same issues
from repeating. Considering the glaring problems with management, it would be best to replace
the CEO position with someone more experienced with running a company. Additionally, the
lack of a Chief Finance Officer (CFO) is extremely concerning as it would mean Billy is
completely in charge of the finances. There needs to be a clear distinction between the CFO and
CEO positions and a change in management - Fyre should find a new CEO and find a CFO. It is
also vital that the new CEO of this company is more experienced than the previous.
To fix our structure, Fyre Media will be re-organizing its management and hierarchy. Fyre will
be separating ties with its founder and co-founder, William McFarland and Jeffrey Atkins. Fyre
will additionally be changing its mission statement to, “Igniting an impactful experience that
highlights diversity and culture through the celebration of art and cuisine.” and we will be
changing the company values to:
● Future - We seek to develop a retransformation of ourselves moving forward from the
negative energies to face the present challenges of today. To look forward and hope to
gain back the trust of the surrounding diverse communities and beyond.
● You - We strive to celebrate the diversity of the individuals and promote inclusion and
equity amongst all. We celebrate the unique traits of everyone, regardless of race, social
status, or culture. We gather all of these differences into one event and celebrate them
through art.
● Reignite - We aim to rebuild our reputation and exemplify our renewed values of
diversity and culture among our local communities and beyond. We are driven to
empower togetherness and family across all origins.
● Excite - We are committed to creating an experience that is memorable for all. By
showcasing our values, we aim to create excitement surrounding our differences. We plan
with the intent to inspire, connect, and celebrate the traits that make us individuals.
Information Technology
Currently, Fyre Media, Inc. only has $40,636.97 in computer equipment, which is not substantial
enough for a company of 50 employees to operate with proper IT infrastructure. In addition, the
financial statements for Fyre Media, Inc. are forged according to a press release posted by the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission, so it was assumed that the company’s
computer equipment stated is equivalent to zero.79
In order for Fyre Media, Inc. to implement a
proper IT infrastructure, it would need to purchase the correct hardware and software on a scale
large enough to operate with 50 employees.
25

Before proceeding with software implementation, a sufficient amount of hardware would need to
be purchased since it was assumed that Fyre Media’s computer equipment is nonexistent. Since a
WeWork office space is going to be utilized, the office provides a pre-established IT
infrastructure.80
Laptops, monitors, laptop docks, and phones are the only pieces of hardware that
Fyre Media, Inc. would need to purchase. Employee workstations will also be equipped with
new versions of Windows 10 Enterprise E5 and Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus.81 82
Since Fyre Media, Inc. does not need to invest in routers, switches, and other hardware necessary
to set up a sufficient IT infrastructure, higher quality laptops may be purchased. Lenovo
ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th Generation, Black laptops will be used instead of desktops since their
specifications are more than sufficient to operate typical office applications.83
Workstations will
also be fitted with a Dell Business Thunderbolt Dock TB16 with a 180W adapter to emphasize
portability and a Dell 23” Monitor for employee convenience.84 85
TV’s and other hardware
necessary for meetings do not need to be purchased since the conference rooms provided by
WeWork, in addition to the rented office space, are outfitted with adequate audio and video
equipment.86
Along with the hardware purchases, additional software will be introduced to improve workflow.
One key software that will be implemented is Workday. This will help fulfill core HR tasks such
as employee benefits, training, and payroll.87
QuickBooks will also be utilized to track all
transactions made on a daily basis.88
Lastly, Zoom Business will be implemented in the
workplace which will improve communication within and outside of Fyre Media, Inc.. Zoom
Business provides the user with the ability to host virtual conferences.89
This way, Fyre Media,
Inc. can contact vendors, venues, and artists that are abroad.
26

People/Individuals & Role
A very critical part of making a company function is the people, especially in terms of effective
leadership. Fyre Media Incorporated failed to manage its employees and plans due to poor
leadership.
One of the biggest issues Fyre Media, Inc. is facing is the negativity surrounding the company.
To be able to overcome the accusations, Fyre needs to address the problems and take action to
appease people. The amount of unsatisfied workers is immense. Some employees claimed to
have post-traumatic stress disorder from everything that happened.90
Considering the lack of
paychecks and a review on Glassdoor stating s/he did not sign a non-disclosure agreement, it is
implied that there were no proper contracts signed upon hiring.91
Once Fyre addresses these
issues with the public through formal apologies and rebrands itself to a reformative company that
gives back to the community, it will begin hiring employees again. Most of the employees will
be fired for going against business ethics and for failing to execute the Fyre Festival. The only
team Fyre will keep is the marketing/promotions team because of their success. This is also
assuming the team stays after compensations have been given and new contracts have been
agreed upon. Current employees of Fyre have organizational disidentification which can be
changed with the rebranding and new team of employees.
After addressing the problems from the Fyre Festival crisis, Fyre Media, Inc. should focus on
hiring constructively dissatisfied people that know business law, consider contingency plans, and
take responsibility for their actions. Having employees on the team that know basic law will help
prevent suppliers from backing out last minute and will assist in the lawsuits Fyre is facing
currently. Furthermore, these employees should be more educated in terms of event planning.
Fyre Media, Inc. did not hire people with the intention of creating a festival, which is why they
ultimately ended up with inexperienced workers trying to plan an event that takes an average of a
year to plan in about six weeks.92
Political/Economic Environment
Within any company, legislative regulations and policies must always be considered. With Fyre
Media Incorporated, they disregarded many of policies that go into their Fyre Festival that was
marketed as an unforgettable experience. This lead to further negative backlash towards the
company, resulting in destructive consequences afterwards. Had legislative policies been taken
into account during the development and planning process of the Fyre Festival, some of the
consequences may have been avoided. To avoid new crisis’, Fyre Media, Inc. must ensure that
necessary state and federal legislature have been considered and implemented within their
system for the new development of the Fyre Festival.
The marketing process prior to the initial Fyre Festival was thanks to the talented skills of the
employees and staff of Fyre Media, Inc. With that, the standards of their advertising must be met,
backed with claims and evidence to support the product which was promised. Being based in
California, Fyre Media, Inc. must abide by the Federal Trade Commision Act which ensures that
any advertising that is listed cannot be be unfair; causing consumer injury or not outweighed to
be beneficial to the consumer.93
This includes taking into consideration of how advertising is
displayed, ensuring that the viewpoint of the consumer is taken with utmost priority. Expressing
27

sufficient information with specificity focusing on the evaluation in the satisfaction for
consumers.
With the Fyre Festival, the well-being of the consumers must be considered with such a mass
gathering in a single area. Regulations that require such a gathering depict that there be medical
attention ready for its participants as with the Medical Action Plan (MAP), which outlines the
protection of those individuals who participate in events of a wide mass.94
This ensures their
health and safety during these events, minimizing the risk impact that can be avoided with the
delivery of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). This not only includes participants of Fyre
Festival, but also directs into the vendors that play as an integral part for the experience of this
festival. The handling of their products for distribution go in conjunction with the health and
safety of the event participants. Californian food handlers must acquire a California Food
Handler Card in order to distribute their products.95
This goes for the each sales representative as
well as the owner. In particular, the distributors of alcohol for sale need an Alcohol Seller’s
Permit in order for any exchange to occur for consumers.96
Equipment utilized for performances
to ensure the reduction of vibrations must also be present in regards to noise ordinance
regulations. This is to limit the allowed noise level that is emitted, bearing in mind of the
differences in noise levels throughout the day.97
Overall, these regulations work together to
promote the health and safety of the consumers that participate in such a festival of an expected
large magnitude.
The development prior the eventual event, the management during the event, and deconstruction
after are all made possible because of the hard-working individuals that put in their time and
energy into such process. With that, policies that outline workers’ compensation and
safeguarding their individual rights in California are extremely vital in maintaining the trust
between employer and employee. California Labor Code sec. 500-588 instructs for a minimum
wage of $12.00 towards any staff with 26 individuals or more and any excess work of 12 hours
to be paid twice the regular hourly rate.98
In regards to overtime work(excess of 8 hours per day
or 40 hours per week), workers must be paid at one and one-half time of the regular hourly rate.
In regards to street vendors, their freedoms are more flexible with the implementation of SB 946:
cities and counties will not being able to ban sidewalk vendors, but can be regulated through the
utilization of a licensing system.99
With that, they cannot be cited for criminal charges for such
matter if violation of local laws occur, resulting only in a fine or citation.
With unforeseeable circumstances always in play, analyzing the trends that typically occur
leading to any downfall for similar festivals are always important. So that the risks of sudden
events are managed properly and liabilities are dealt with, the implementation of at least five
event insurance policies are needed: cancelation, including terrorism coverage, general liability,
workers’ compensation, and business auto coverage.100
Taking into account for the necessary
insurances that are needed towards a risk assessment can avoid potential lawsuits when
objectives don’t turn well, like unpredictable weather patterns for example. Such insurances that
are provided can provide levels of safety overall.
28

Social Environment
Due to their prior events, Fyre Media Incorporated has undertaken negative social outlooks from
the mass majority. In order to reverse this trend, Fyre Media, Inc. must take necessary measures
to take on the external social environment and defining themselves into a more positive light so
that future endeavors can be focused onto achievable circumstances. This includes the utilization
of social media in conjunction with providing an overall sense of goodwill. Thus, understanding
the social environment that takes place can construct a probable positive light onto Fyre Media,
Inc.
To develop the relationships between producer and consumer, charitable partnerships are key to
further the trust between the two groups. It provides a positive impact for one’s business,
involving the creation of community relationships and thus could reverse the negative light that
is shined upon Fyre Media, Inc. currently.101
However, deciding which partnership to extend
towards must be strategized. The organization that is chosen must align with the company values
to promote the goodwill that is enforced. Else, it paints a negative connotation to the ultimate
purpose of extending such partnerships. Being able to lay a foundation with a charity
relationship, it builds a sustainable business and creates beneficial impacts for the company. This
includes enhancing brand reputation and building one’s credibility so that opportunities to gain
more resources and funding can be obtainable.102
Especially with Fyre Media, Inc. having charity
partnerships can reverse the negative outlooks that already appear within their company and
festival.
Social media influencers have always played a big role in the development of Fyre Media, Inc.
and the Fyre Festival. Still, they continue to influence the public with their presence and how
they perceive Fyre Media, Inc. within an umbrella of unfavorable impressions. Thus, it is
decisive to flip the rejecting opinions of such influencers so that the public can see the change
within Fyre Media, Inc.. Individuals like Kendall Jenner with a mass following of 107 million
followers on Instagram are examples which brand the Fyre Festival as such a disaster.103
Utilization of their influence negatively affected them, which adversely rebranded such festival
as a disastrous event. Having their opinion flipped, however, can brand Fyre as a company with
good values and a purpose that provides the public and community energized with positivity and
service.
29

Operations Analysis
Overview
Fyre Festival’s organizer, Billy McFarland, promised more than they could offer within an
unreasonably short span of time. The initially promoted venue of “Norman’s Cay” had to be
forfeited due to breach of contract when they publicized that the island was formerly owned by
infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar.103
Also advertised were: gourmet catering, major celebrities
and entertainment artists, and luxury villas, but their failure to even set up the event was not
communicated to the consumers until many were brought to the site. The festival itself was made
up of damp mattresses, disaster relief tents, blasting music, and an over-distribution of alcohol.
As the reality of this event was made clear, all of the artists and several of the companies
providing staff and hospitality withdrew from participating in the festival.
Not only was there a lack of staff members and security, but the unorganization of the event
caused many of them to quit during the event. No effort was made to differentiate them from the
customers, and the staff was unable to communicate among themselves or with the people
effectively. This led to an outbreak of theft and rampant chaos until the Bahamian government
had to intervene and close the event. Even then, issues such as heatstroke and dehydration
persisted in the airport until flights brought the attendees home in the morning. Ultimately, the
Fyre Festival was disastrous event whose downfall stemmed from a lack of planning, resources,
and communication.
Location
The Fyre Festival, under the alias Fyre Cay, falsely promoted the utilization of Norman’s Cay in
the Bahamas as their main location venue.104
Instead, festival goers were sent to the Great
Exuma, and insufficient housing and transportation made for extremely inefficient event
management as well as immediate consumer backlash on social media. Additionally, the original
Fyre Festival failed to take precaution to estimate and provide for the transportation of the
majority of its customers.
Entertainment
The overall influencer marketing of the Fyre Festival was extremely successful, but the
celebrities and artists used in the promotional aspect failed to remain with the company as artist
relations deteriorated. Kendall Jenner, who was paid $250,000 to promote Fyre, was revealed to
not even have attempted to attend the festival despite the marketing. This will make it harder for
Fyre to procure music talent for future events.
Staffing
The Fyre Festival was mismanaged and heavily understaffed with inexperienced individuals. On
the day of the event, the event staff themselves were noted to be unsure of what was happening.
People were disoriented because a lack of proper uniforms and radio communication didn’t help
differentiate staff from customers.
30

Operations Plan
Overview
This operations plan is for the upcoming three-year plan for a series of Fyre Festival events in
order to rebuild the brand and recreate the luxury festival by the end of the expected timeline.
These festivals will be held in spring (expected March) and fall (expected September) per 6
months of 2018 and 2019 in order to refrain from facing extreme weather conditions. With an
expected initial audience of about 3,500, we aim to expand the scale of the festival based on the
success of these separate events.
The music festival will be a one-day event from the hours of 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, with the
first hour being check-in. The setup of the event will have one stage per music genre - Electronic
Dance Music and Hip Hop. Each artist will have a 1-hour concert, with a 2-hour closing act.
Venue
We have two proposed venues: the Hollywood Palladium and the Auto Club Speedway. The
Hollywood Palladium is located in Los Angeles County in Hollywood, California. It is a 3.55
acre site with a 90,000 ft2
surface parking lot. These is also a 11,200 ft2
dance floor alongside a
mezzanine. With a capacity of 4000, the event is fully capable of hosting our first event, but a
change in venue will be necessary for larger scale follow-up festivals. However, the venue is
available for both indoor and outdoor use and several amenities are already included, scaled to an
audience of our expected size. These amenities are included in the cost and are as follows:
● Security staffing
● Stage crew
● Technology (screens, speakers, and lighting)
● Indoor and outdoor power
● Any permits required
● Accessibility seating and accommodations
For those coming into the Los Angeles County from various locations such as LAX or
Downtown Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Charter Bus & Limo Service Prices provides mass and
cost-efficient solutions for transportation services within the area.
The Auto Club Speedway is located in San Bernardino County in Fontana, California.105
The
total site has a size of 568 acres and a speedway interior of 130.7 acres. The success of HARD
Summer at this location before has proved the viability of the venue. Its expansive size may be a
costly investment to make initially but provides a strong and expansive location for hosting
future Fyre Festival events. Rather than relying on FEMA disaster relief tents that had been used
in hastily setting up the Fyre Festival, the Speedway also has an official hotel working with
Hilton Garden Inn, which could provide for easier transportation and housing agreements with
such parties. Despite its outdoor nature, the stadium is already setup for large events to be held.
With over 30,000 vehicle parking spots and plenty of spaces for buses and other vehicles, traffic
overflow should not be an issue. Furthermore, amenities such as restrooms and first-aid buildings
have already been established in the location.
31

Other options that we can consider for transportation is establishing a partnership with
ridesharing services like Uber Events or Lyft Events to save money on renting external garages
or lots.106 107
GTS The Bus Charter Experers located in Los Angeles, California offers shuttle
buses that take up to 58 passengers for an hourly rate of $138.00 per hour.108
Hotels
Banana Bungalow is one of the options for hotel. It is located near the Hollywood Palladium and
an ideal location for VIP guests and artists to stay.109
Right on Hollywood Boulevard in the heart
of Hollywood, the hotel has over 4,210 acres of terrain and landscaped parkland, and picnic
areas. The private rates are for 1 or 2 people in the Fall (September 1 - September 31) at $20.18,
Pre Summer (June 1- June 30) at $23.69.
Artists
Currently, we have plans for two potential headliners - Post Malone and YG. Post Malone is a
more costly headliner, but his highly regarded reputation and fame could help rebuild the
credibility of our brand.
YG would be a more cost-effective headliner act.110
Having lower prices and being central to
Compton, lesser accomodations with YG would be provided along with more community
attraction. Other local artists that appeal to the younger crowd (18-25) include:
● Shoreline Mafia
● Blueface
● Dumbfoundead
● Vince Staples
● Tyler, The Creator
● Jay Rock
● Problem
● G Perico
● ScHoolboy Q
● Skrillex
● Ghastly
● Kayzo
32

Vendors
For Fyre Festival 2017, the promise of “gourmet catering” was proved too good to be true when
customers were served pre-packaged sandwiches instead. While the luxury of their initial plans
would be too large-scale to address especially with these smaller rebranding events, the use of
local vendors is a popular course of action that most ideally aligns with Fyre’s new mission to
promote and give back to the economy of the community.
We plan to advertise the space by encouraging local food vendors to put down a flat deposit
proportional to the location of the rented space and the size of their menu. At the end of the
event, 20% of the proceeds are to also be paid to us. The tentative options for their set-up are:
● Food truck
● 10’ x 10’ booth
● Canopy - Set up included
At least 20 vendors should be considered and 10 selected to provide a variety of A list potential
food vendors that we could promote the festival to in the local Southern California region are as
follows:
● Slanging Corea - Korean street tacos and bowls, *vegetarian
● The Grilled Cheese Truck - soup, grilled cheese
● Cousins Maine Lobster - seafood, lobster rolls
● Ragin’ Cajun - Cajun, seafood, sandwiches, southern
● India Jones Chow Truck - Indian, *vegan, *vegetarian
● Amazebowls - *vegan, breakfast, dessert
● Crepes Bonaparte - dessert, breakfast crepes
● The Beignet Truck - Cajun, dessert, creole
● Freda’s Pizza & Woodfired Kitchen - Cuban wings, pizza, pasta
● Shrimp Daddy - seafood, Hawaiian ($$)
● Coolhaus Food Truck - ice cream & frozen yogurt
● The Milky Way - homemade ice cream and coffee ($$)
● Tap Truck - cocktails, craft beer
Aside from reaching out to local food and beverage vendors, local artists would help in reigniting
the community and tourism lifestyle in the Los Angeles or San Bernardino area. Potential clients
include:111
● Weiss - handmade timepieces, travel pouches, watch repair
● Rewilder - handmade, zero-waste, recycled everyday and travel bags
● Alkemie - handmade, sustainable jewelry
● Fleurings - custom jewelry promoting the sustainability of bees
● Yellow 108 - sustainable headwear for men and women
● Rx Los Angeles - premium handmade candles and scents
● D*Face - LA-based graffiti and street artist
● Born X Raised - streetwear clothing brand, men and women
● Diamond Supply Co. - skater clothing and skateboard manufacturer
33

● Reverie - cruelty-free, harsh chemical-free essential oils and beauty products
● SkinOwl - high-performance clean skin care bars (soap, cleansers, etc)
● Graffiti LA - group of professional graffiti artists, anonymous collections
● Humble Ceramics - artisan pottery and kitchen-ware emphasizing organic design
and materials
Merchandise
Merchandise is a necessity towards promoting the image of the brand and making a profit. With
a maximum of 4,000 attendees, we plan to order 1,700 long-sleeve shirts. Of them, 200 are set
aside for staff and volunteers. As for the VIP materials, we plan to order 800 lanyards, which are
personalized for the Fyre Festival.
Security
According to the University of California, Riverside, about 22 security officials would be needed
for a capacity of 3,500 people.112
Here, we’ve identified two reliable companies that can provide
the staffing and protection needed for our music festival:
Ball Security:
● Requires extensive background checks, certifications, interviews, drug tests,
licensing certifications, and adequate preparation.113
Bark.com:
● Provides plans that prevent accidents before it occurs.
● Offers to study the client’s operations and evaluate the impact of location, supply
chain, travel, infrastructure, logistics, finances, and staff.114
Staffing
Staff management necessary for a music festival of any scale must cover site, production,
security, VIPs, media, vendors, parking, crowd control, office, festival, and public relations.
Crew members can be hired for setting up the site, transportation, and office management. Other
labor can be covered with the use of a volunteer system. About 200 individuals would be
necessary to run these remaining areas.115
Facilities
With 3,000 attendees, as well as alcohol being handled in the event, efficient bathrooms are a
necessity. Depending on the venue location and its provided amenities, our bathroom solution for
guests can be approached through multiple ways. A venue such as the Palladium provides guests
with efficient bathrooms with plentiful stalls. Bathrooms are split between male and female
guests and lines are more organized as the bathroom would be located in one specific area.
If a venue were to be outdoors, bathrooms would be harder to come by and it would be necessary
to rent out portable restrooms as well as hand washing stations. With the number of guests
projected for the given nine hours of event duration, our festival would have to rent an estimate
of twenty-six standard portable restrooms, five hand-wash stations, and three enhanced access
restrooms.116
Overall, bathrooms must be regularly attended to for cleanliness and efficiency. If
indoors, lines must be managed by stationing one security personnel at all times as well as
janitorial staff to keep it clean. If outdoors, porta-potties will all be placed in the same area for
34

easy access. All bathrooms must have ADA accessibility features as well with necessary ramps
and accommodations.
In terms of waste management, it is important to be mindful of the amount of signage as well as
monitoring of bins. Sustainability initiatives should be marketed to the guests as well to
encourage attendees to dispose of items into their respective bins. An option could be to partner
with local environmental non-profits for the promotion of recycling / composting. Venues would
often have their own waste management systems but if they don’t it would be necessary to either
contact the city’s municipal waste solutions or a private waste management company.
Waste Management of the Los Angeles County would be a municipal option. They have solutions
such as dumpster rentals where they are to be picked up overnight. On the load-in days of the
event, a couple of 8-yard dumpsters would be good for disposing of all packaging and waste
generated by the staff and for the day of. Twelve 40-yard dumpsters will be purchased for all the
waste generated from guests. Overall, trash bins should be managed by a green team staff as they
are to set-up, monitor and to dispose of the waste collected.
Technology
In the event that the Hollywood Palladium is used, necessities such as stages, screens, lighting,
and setup crew are accounted for, as are WiFi and power usage. An trained crew with experience
will aid in all technology and assistance once an itenary is provided for the ground crew. A one
month final planning date is necessary for the Palladium crew to prepare for any necessary
changes or required technology.
For the Auto Car Speedway, we have established contact with a private company by the name of
TV Sound & Vision. The company offers a stage crew, set-up/tear down, and all equipment
necessary. The quote was lowered by giving the heads up to the event far in advance ($39,999).
With a company of this size, the confidence behind the ability of the crew matches the
expectations of what we are looking for in the multiple stage (3 Outdoor Stage Package) design
for The Auto Car Speedway.
Layout of 3 Stage Design Package offered by “TV Sound & Vision”117
● 1 Main Stage (5,500 population max)
● 2 Smaller stages (3,500 population max)
● Crew of 13+ to manage large stage
● 7+ depending on size of venue for smaller stages
In the event that this option is chosen, preparation is needed to set up this event more than others.
The recommended path by “TV Sound & Vision” was the “3 Day Setup/Take Down” plan
established by the company. This allocates the night prior for set up, and the following morning
of the event to take down. With an already provided and trained group, the team will help
construct and tear down the outdoor portable stages.
A new and rising trend at music festivals, is the electronic wristband. In collaboration with the
online supplier, ID&C Bands, the have provided Fabric Wristbands with RFID Smart Cards that
35

will carry an online, loadable, account where purchases can be done via the band.118
With 4,500
attendees and no extra bands and at $2.12 per band, the total is estimated to $8,500. Left over
funds that are stored on the company's cloud may be transferred back after the event is done. The
online currency may be used at participating vendors and indoor transactions in/outside the
venue.
External Factors
Permits
Per the regulations of the Los Angeles county, hosting a festival requires assessments on the
potential need for law enforcement, onsite medical care, and drug use and distribution, as well as
an action plan that addresses all of the following:119
● Health and safety concerns
● Law enforcement concerns
● Supplying emergency materials
● Any risks that the performers may face
● Food and agriculture practices
As a result, permits on Mass Gathering, Amplified Sound, Alcohol Sales, and COI’s (Certificates
of insurance) for every vendor must be attained. Also, safety and security are to be reviewed by
local law enforcement and the fire marshall. For example, fire safety is reviewed under
application for a Fire Code Permit.120
Risk Management
During the operations of a large-scale event like a festival, precautions must be taken in order to
ensure the safety of the workers and attendees. Compiled is a list of risks that the event may face
during the event and a brief overview of the solutions that can be taken to address them:
● Injury: have an incident management team (IMT) with members trained in CPR and for
other possible medical incidents and keep a record through written report for future
reference.121
● Weather: create a Trigger Chart reviewed by the staff and utilize quick communication
with local authority and spotters.122
● Traffic management: establish a staff and volunteer to attendee ratio and create a
reliable floor plan for traffic flow.123
● Liability and damage control: insurance coverage which handles public liability, in case
harm comes to attendees, volunteers, staff, or property.124
36

Financial Analysis
As previously noted in the Feasibility Study, it is very likely that the public financial records
have been frauded. As a result, current financial statements for the January 1st
, 2017, balance
sheet is illegitimate and an audit will need to be done. Unfortunately, because Fyre Media is a
private company, their financial records are not public, making it difficult to audit the company
with current information. However, should Fyre Media continue to operate, as-is, they will
eventually be found liable for the these documents as they were used to scam investors into
investing money into Fyre Media.
Despite the lack of credible balance sheets, we have been able to procure some rough estimates
that will affect Fyre Media in 2017. However, this was primarily found through research material
and not official ledgers.
Financial Statements Fraud
Unfortunately, it is very unclear if the most recent financial statements for Fyre Media, as of
January 1st
, 2017, are legitimate. Using Benford’s Law, an effective method of fraud detection,
concludes that Fyre’s financial statements are indicative of fraud.125
Because humans are
inefficient at randomly generating numbers, the probability of the first digit of a number in
listings, statistical tables, and other data sets have an unequal chance of occurring - the
probability that one is the first digit for a number is 30.1% while the chance that “nine” is the
first occurring digit is 4.6%.126
In contrast to the probability of the first occurring digit, the
probability that the last occurring digit will be any of the numbers from one through nine is equal
- approximately 11.1% each number “one” through “nine”. Unlike, what is normally expected,
the distribution of numbers within the financial statements have a clear bias towards certain
digits. Ending digits are typically “zeros” and “fours” and never “ones”. While leading digits
have a bias towards “ones” and “threes” typically not “twos”.
37

Financial Plan/Budget Analysis
Should we rebrand and recreate this company, several expenses need to be taken into account.
One of the most important expenses is employee payroll. Especially considering Fyre Festival,
LLC. failed to pay its workers, the rebranded company should focus on paying its employees.
According to average wages of Los Angeles employees, the total cost of employees adds up to
about $3.5 million per year. Knowing that this is just one of many expenses to consider when
planning for the rebranded business is important because it establishes a baseline goal of
projected profit required to function. In addition to this category of expenses, there are also costs
such as the cost of necessary hardware and software and basic cost of amenities to run the
business. Budgeting for these costs allows the company to plan how much in sponsorships,
donations, and/or overall revenue needs to occur in order to breakeven and eventually profit.
Keeping these expenses in mind allows for a guideline to follow upon getting the company
running again. In other words, it tells the company how far off its actual finances are from what
was planned.
The predicted budget, as seen in the appendices (Fyre Media General Budget) established for the
rebranded company formulates its numbers based on average salaries and costs of each item or
job in Los Angeles. In terms of predicted salaries, it is important to note that they are based on
average salaries for the area the company is located because, depending on the region, salaries
may differ and that could affect the budget drastically. In terms of capital and operating
expenses, the necessity for each item, as well as the expenses for each, were determined based on
other companies’ materials used to accomplish required tasks at hand. By understanding the
importance of having a budget when essentially re-starting a business, and knowing the
reasoning behind each line item of the budget, allows for the company to proceed with a general
expectation of what goals are attainable considering the finances.
38

Conclusion
The failed execution of Fyre Festival 2017 has plummeted the reputation of Fyre Festival, LLC.
and Fyre Media, Inc. as a whole, to the point where it is no longer feasible to salvage. The weak
leadership, falsified documents, unrealistic promises, and lack of transparency ultimately led to
bankruptcy and millions of dollars in lawsuits. The poor planning of the executive team was one
of the biggest contributors as to why this company failed from the beginning. It would be crucial
for Fyre to employ more experienced and knowledgeable people to plan and execute this event in
the future, and provide more organized delegations to their team. This will minimize the risk of
basic issues while planning in the future. Alongside this, appropriate financial delegation from
these executives would be necessary to execute this event properly, as well as a realistic time
frame for planning this event. Although the marketing from the previous event was extremely
successful, the $4.5 million used on their campaigns would have been used better at executing
the actual event itself and the promises that were marketed. It would be in the festival’s best
interest to market towards a smaller demographic of “hardcore” festival-goers in order to slowly
gain back the trust that was lost. Full transparency with employees and the public is also
extremely crucial, as it will decrease the suspicion for fraud and bring back the credibility of the
company. Should Fyre Festival, LLC. continued as planned for 2018, social responsibility and
business ethics is a highly suggested area of focus on in order to combat the negative reputation
it has established with the failed Fyre Festival 2017. Due to the failures of the first attempt, Fyre
Festival, LLC. and Fyre Media, Inc. are not considered feasible companies to restore because
they are essentially starting from less than zero because of their lawsuits.
39

Appendices
● Fyre Media Comprehensive Balance Sheet
www.moes.xyz/2v
● Fyre Media General Budget
www.moes.xyz/2w
● Multi Year Financial Plan
www.moes.xyz/2x
40

Endnotes
1. "Fyre Media". 2019. Crunchbase.
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/fyre-media-inc.
2. "Inside The World's Biggest Festival Flop". 2019. BBC News. Accessed April 14 2019.
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-46904445.
3. "Ja Rule: Fyre Festival was 'NOT MY FAULT". 2019. Twitter.Com. Accessed April 14
2019. https://twitter.com/i/moments/858027543617785856?lang=en.
4. "Company Bankruptcy Information For Fyre Festival LLC". 2017.
Businessbankruptcies.Com. Accessed April 14 2019.
https://businessbankruptcies.com/cases/fyre-festival-llc.
5. "SEC.Gov | SEC Charges Failed Fyre Festival Founder And Others With $27.4 Million
Offering Fraud". 2019. Sec.Gov. Accessed April 14 2019.
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-141.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Durtschi, Cindy, William Hillison, and Carl Pacini. 2019. "The Effective Use Of
Benford’S Law To Assist In Detecting Fraud In Accounting Data". Journal Of Forensiv
Accounting V (1524-5586): 17-34.
https://www.agacgfm.org/aga/fraudtoolkit/documents/benfordslaw.pdf.
9. " Understanding And Applying Benford’s Law ". 2019. Isaca.Org. Accessed April 14
2019.
https://www.isaca.org/Journal/archives/2011/Volume-3/Pages/Understanding-and-Applyi
ng-Benfords-Law.aspx.
10. Ibid.
11. "Fyre's Balance Sheets (Consolidated = Booking App + Festival) : Fyrefestival". 2019.
Reddit.Com. Accessed April 14 2019.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fyrefestival/comments/6c2udg/fyres_balance_sheets_consolidat
ed_booking_app/dhsdpa6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x.
12. "Fyre Pitch Deck". 2019. , 2019.
13. Ibid.
14. Op. Cit.
15. Op. Cit.
16. "Pitch Deck Examples From Successful Startups (2019)". 2019. Slidebean.Com.
Accessed April 14 2019. https://slidebean.com/blog/startups-pitch-deck-examples.
17. Ibid.
18. Rubright, Matt. 2019. "How To Create An Effective Pitch Deck: A Data-Driven Analysis
Of What Makes Successful Slides". Geekwire. Accessed April 14 2019.
https://www.geekwire.com/2019/create-effective-pitch-deck-data-driven-analysis-makes-
successful-slides/.
19. Davis, Kathryn. 2019. "Fyre Fest In Bankruptcy". Bond & Botes. Accessed April 14
2019. https://www.bondnbotes.com/2019/01/15/fyre-fest-bankruptcy/.
20. Beatty, Jeffrey F, Susan S Samuelson, and Patricia Sánchez Abril. 2013. Business Law
And The Legal Environment. 6th ed. South-Western CENGAGE Learning., 926
41

21. Brooks, Dave, and Dave Brooks. 2017. "Investors Attempt To Force Fyre Festival In
Bankruptcy". Amplify. Accessed April 14 2019.
http://www.ampthemag.com/the-real/investors-attempt-force-fyre-festival-bankruptcy/.
22. "New York Southern Bankruptcy Court Case 1:17-Bk-11883 - Fyre Festiva...". 2019.
Courtdrive.
https://app.courtdrive.com/filings/nysbke_275886-1-17-bk-11883-fyre-festival-llc.
23. Brooks, Dave, and Dave Brooks. Op. Cit.
24. Op. Cit.
25. Beatty, Jeffrey F, Susan S Samuelson, and Patricia Sánchez Abril. Op. Cit., 924
26. Kreps, Daniel. "Fyre Festival Organizers Sued in $100 Million Class Action Suit."
Rolling Stone. June 25, 2018. Accessed April 15, 2019.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/fyre-festival-organizers-sued-in-100-mi
llion-fraud-breach-of-contract-suit-128914/.
27. Chelsea Chinery, Shannon Mcauliffe, and Desiree D. Flores v. Fyre Media, INC., Billy
McFarland, Jeffrey Atkins, and Matte Projections, LLC (Superior Court of California
May 02, 2017).
28. Andrew Petrozziello v. Fyre Media, INC., Fyre Festival, LLC, Jeffrey Atkins, Billy
McFarland (United States District Court New Jersey February 05, 2017).
29. "#1 in In Re Fyre Festival Litigation (S.D.N.Y., 1:17-cv-03296) – CourtListener.com."
CourtListener. Accessed April 15, 2019.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6325248/1/in-re-fyre-festival-litigation/.
30. "National Event Services v. Fyre Festival Et Al." Scribd. Accessed April 15, 2019.
https://www.scribd.com/document/347447488/National-Event-Services-v-Fyre-Festival-e
t-al?campaign=SkimbitLtd&ad_group=87443X1590823X439d7b12083e0120113b74a6c
2aeb476&keyword=660149026&source=hp_affiliate&medium=affiliate.
31. Kenneth Reel and Emily Reel v. Billy McFarland, Jefferey Atkins, Fyre Media, INC.,
Fyre Festival, LLC., 42West, LLC., and Matte Projects, LLC (United States Court for the
Southern District of Florida May 05, 2017).
32. Robert Seth Crossno, II and Mark Thompson v. William McFarland, Jefferey Atkins,
Fyre Media, INC., Grant Margolin, and Swift Air, LLC. (Superior Court of North
Carolina May 08, 2017).
33. Sanchez, Daniel. "Billy McFarland Ordered to Pay $3 Million with Interest to a
Defrauded Investor." Digital Music News. February 12, 2019. Accessed April 15, 2019.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2019/02/11/ehl-funding-v-billy-mcfarland-unpaid-fyr
e-festival-loan/.
34. Oleg Itkin v. Fyre Media, Inc. (New York County Supreme Court May 11, 2017).
35. Blistein, Jon. "Ticket Vendor Tablelist Sues Fyre Festival for $3.5 Million." Rolling
Stone. June 25, 2018. Accessed April 15, 2019.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ticket-vendor-tablelist-sues-fyre-festiva
l-organizers-for-3-5-million-121409/.
36. Wamsley, Laurel. "Fyre Festival Hit With $100 Million Suit; Organizer Says 'We Were A
Little Naive'." NPR. May 01, 2017. Accessed April 15, 2019.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/01/526392280/fyre-festival-hit-with-1
00-million-suit-organizer-says-we-were-a-little-naive.
37. Op. Cit.
42

38. "FYRE FESTIVAL (@Fyrefestival) • Instagram Photos And Videos". 2019.
Instagram.Com. Accessed April 15 2019. https://www.instagram.com/fyrefestival/.
39. "The Fyre Festival Deck Shows What Is Wrong With Modern Fundraising". 2019.
Medium. Accessed April 15 2019.
https://medium.com/swlh/the-fyre-festival-deck-shows-what-is-wrong-with-modern-fund
raising-6b85fb38f75b.
40. Vorbrich, Madison. 2019. "Fyre Festival: The Most Successful Social Media Marketing
Campaign For A Failed Music Festival, Ever -". Tandem-Interactive.Com. Accessed
April 15 2019. https://tandem-interactive.com/fyre-festival-social-media-marketing/.
41. Ibid.
42. "How Fyre Festival Burned Through $26 Million In Cash". 2019. Billboard. Accessed
April 15 2019.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8498242/how-fyre-fest-26-million-cash-grap
hic-billy-mcfarland.
43. "FYRE FESTIVAL Trademark - Serial Number 87357393 :: Justia Trademarks". 2019.
Trademarks.Justia.Com. Accessed April 15 2019.
https://trademarks.justia.com/873/57/fyre-87357393.html.
44. Op. Cit.
45. Op. Cit.
46. "Fyre Festival Employee Says Organisers Blew Budget On Supermodel Promoters".
2019. Newscomau. Accessed April 15 2019.
https://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/central-america/fyre-festival-employee-tell
s-of-organisers-focus-on-models-and-abandonment-of-basic-requirements/news-story/1c
2e02e42151bf40d075ff42ab711f33.
47. Ibid.
49. "Fyre Festival Organizers Blew All Their Money Months Early On Models, Planes, And
Yachts". 2019. VICE News. Accessed April 15 2019.
https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/7xwabq/fyre-fest-organizers-blew-all-their-money-m
onths-early-on-models-planes-and-yachts.
51. Ibid.
52. Op. Cit.
53. "Fyre Festival: A Classic American Con". 2019. The American Conservative. Accessed
April 15 2019.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/fyre-festival-a-classic-american-con/.
55. Op. Cit.
56. "UPDATED: Fyre Festival Is Facing 9 Lawsuits, FBI Investigation, Organizer Arrested".
2017. The Fashion Law. Accessed April 15 2019.
http://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/a-list-of-all-of-the-fyre-festival-lawsuits-that-have-b
een-filed-so-far.
57. Ibid.
59. Op. Cit.
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