Billy McFarland Sells Fyre Festival Brand On eBay, Is Disappointed In "Low" Price

BY Devin Morton 1202 Views
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 25: Billy McFarland visits "Jesse Watters Primetime" at Fox News Studios on August 25, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland sold off the infamous festival's IP to an eBay bidder after initially struggling to attract a buyer.

Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland previously announced his intentions to sell the controversial intellectual property. After being unable to find a buyer, he posted it on eBay. The move attracted some bidders, and on July 15, the auction officially closed. The winner of Fyre Fest will pay $245,300 to McFarland for the IP.

McFarland streamed the closing moments of the auction, and he appeared visibly disappointed by the final bids. "Damn, this sucks. It's so low," he said after the bidding crossed $240,000. Shortly after, he published a press release that seemed less pessimistic than his original response.

“I would like to congratulate the winning bidder in the FYRE Festival IP auction on eBay. I look forward to working with them to begin the process to finalize the sale. FYRE Festival is just one chapter of my story, and l’m excited to move onto my next one," reads part of Billy McFarland's statement, which he published to Instagram shortly after the auction closed.

Billy McFarland Sold Fyre Festival

Of course, fans will remember the first Fyre Festival for all the wrong reasons. In 2017, Billy McFarland (with help from Ja Rule) attempted to host a Coachella-like music festival in The Bahamas. It was a disaster, with poor accommodations for attendees and the 33 advertised artists pulling out due to poor planning. McFarland and his associates were investigated for several forms of fraud, leading to the attempted festival organizer serving four years in prison.

Shortly after his release from prison in 2022, McFarland announced plans for a Fyre Festival 2. Those did not come to fruition, and instead, he chose to sell off the entire brand. Maybe the next owner, whose name is not yet publicly known, will host a festival of his own with it.

About The Author
Devin Morton is a News and Evergreen Content Writer at HotNewHipHop from Queens, New York. He started with HNHH in July 2024 as an intern while entering his last year of college, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication from Stony Brook University's School of Communication and Journalism. He has previously written album reviews covering some of the most popular artists in the game, including Childish Gambino and Ice Spice, as well as conversation starting pieces about the Grammy and BET Hip-Hop Awards. Some of his favorite rappers include Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, and Nas, though he also has a soft spot for the Blog Era guys from when he used to read HNHH as a kid. Besides hip-hop, he's a huge fan of sports (primarily basketball, #HeatCulture) and wrestling. His work for HNHH has reflected his outside interests, also covering sports, politics, and the greater pop culture world, which he has extensive knowledge of in addition to his hip-hop expertise.

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