Fyre Festival: "Rich kids of Instagram meets Hunger Games"

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Ya I disagree. Blatantly obvious the people being interviewed are currently going for glory. I’m actually shocked they aren’t being held liable.

What glory? Can you explain that?

I’m not sure we even watched the same documentary. Lots of people who lost a lot or wished they’d done more to stop it. Where is the glory in that?

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

The app seems like a really good.idea though

Kind of, but the business of booking most famous acts has some things going against a quick book style of app.

- It's mostly done by professional booking agents who have direct lines to mid to high end artist/band's agents.

- It's a big process that has a lot back and forth

- Scheduling and desire to travel off course of a tour and/or travel at all when off tour is huge for most artists/bands




This app could work, I could see it actually catching on with the washed out casino/town fair circuit bands and artists, where rich people and companies would get a kick out of being able to click and pay for them to come to their events/parties.


But Fyre's idea of the industry moving to an app for legitimate large club/music hall/arena artist booking would never have caught on with all the complexity in major artists booking, especially scheduling and desire to travel at any given time.


The app would basically be "Click to order this band and then it's a such a big process with back and forth that the band's agent will contact you to discuss". Well booking agents already do this minus clicking on some company's app.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Kind of, but the business of booking most famous acts has some things going against a quick book style of app.

- It's mostly done by professional booking agents who have direct lines to mid to high end artist/band's agents.

- It's a big process that has a lot back and forth

- Scheduling and desire to travel off course of a tour and/or travel at all when off tour is huge for most artists/bands




This app could work, I could see it actually catching on with the washed out casino/town fair circuit bands and artists, where rich people and companies would get a kick out of being able to click and pay for them to come to their events/parties.


But Fyre's idea of the industry moving to an app for legitimate large club/music hall/arena artist booking would never have caught on with all the complexity in major artists booking, especially scheduling and desire to travel at any given time.


The app would basically be "Click to order this band and then it's a such a big process with back and forth that the band's agent will contact you to discuss". Well booking agents already do this minus clicking on some company's app.

exactly. What do you think Ja Rule is?

[jayswin]

Actually, good point, lol. My brain is still stuck in 2005!

[missdpuck]

I just watched both docs and don’t know what to say.

What I do know is that we’ll be headed to that woman’s restaurant next trip over. And we won’t mention the Fyre Festival.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Locke

He was the most interesting interviewee for me. Not just for that anecdote, but for the fact that he seemed like a knowledgeable, intelligent and experienced person who should have known better but kept getting dragged along by Billy.

That guy hauled Billy's ass out of the fire so many times....and why? For what? I'd have let Billy fail months before the actual thing imploded.

He seemed like a loyal and generally well-meaning guy. Unfortunately those kinds of people are easy prey for charismatic and manipulative people like Billy.

Originally Posted by jayswin

Me too, what a crazy documentary. Weird how Billy had people filming during really private and incriminating gatherings.

Such is the delusion of narcissists obsessed with being seen as the smartest guys in the room and need to have the story of their success on display (because otherwise what's the point).



Just look at Oil Change. Same idea, just without the criminal aspect on display.

[missdpuck]

I’ve lived and worked in Delray Beach, Florida for a long time and have recognized people in
American Relapse and Dopesick Nation and can’t understand why some of them consent to be filmed at their absolute worst.

Maybe some fame is better than none to these people.

Asshats.

[CaptainCrunch]

The netflix doc is amazingly well done. What made Billy even more reprehensible is that he continued to run scams while out on bail. 6 years in prison doesn't seem like enough.

[YYC in LAX]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

The netflix doc is amazingly well done. What made Billy even more reprehensible is that he continued to run scams while out on bail. 6 years in prison doesn't seem like enough.

...and on camera. What a moron.

[Calgary14]

The unpaid caterer has raised $90,000 in donations so far since the documentary aired.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainmen...tims-1.4985887

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

The netflix doc is amazingly well done. What made Billy even more reprehensible is that he continued to run scams while out on bail. 6 years in prison doesn't seem like enough.

In a luxury penthouse while the people who worked hard for him lost significant sums of money in addition to the insanity that the event-goers experienced.

Lack of consequences, lack of remorse.

[Fuzz]

I used to live with a far less successful Billy. So many people bought his bull####, it was unreal.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Locke

In a luxury penthouse while the people who worked hard for him lost significant sums of money in addition to the insanity that the event-goers experienced.

Lack of consequences, lack of remorse.

I think that they called Billy an Organized Psychopath in the documentary. Its a pretty good definition of the type of person that he seems to be.


He's in the same kind of personality type as the heads of Enron for example.


What's really funny is the whole Ja Rule getting off pretty much unpunished though he was elbow deep in this whole thing and admitted that it was false advertising.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I think that they called Billy an Organized Psychopath in the documentary. Its a pretty good definition of the type of person that he seems to be.


He's in the same kind of personality type as the heads of Enron for example.


What's really funny is the whole Ja Rule getting off pretty much unpunished though he was elbow deep in this whole thing and admitted that it was false advertising.

It was such an awkward pause by Ja Rule on that conference call at the end. "It's not fraud it's...……….like false advertising". You could feel him coming to the realization that he was balls deep in criminal activity while he was stammering it out.

[bluejays]

I'm not sure Ja Rule really took it seriously. It seems like he got caught up in his own BS and was just trying to be the "plow through, we're a smart group, we'll pull it together with this pep talk" kind of bs that people that are high on themselves believe. He was trying to spin it, but being the idiot that he is he was more concerned about being the face of confidence. Dumb guy.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I used to live with a far less successful Billy. So many people bought his bull####, it was unreal.

I went to university with a guy like that. He wasn't a close friend, but he was someone around the group of a few hundred kids in my university circle. It was interesting following his story in the news and via the people who got burned on my Facebook feed.

He's been in and out of jail at least 3 times now. Every time he gets out, he manages to find a new set of victims. Some people really do have a talent/disease for being con-artists. The guy eventually gets caught every time, but can't resist pulling the same lame scams with fake cheques, fake events, etc. Whenever he does scam money, it's spent instantly on partying and showing off.

People like this just seem to operate on a different wavelength than most people. No concept of consequences, self-awareness, or feelings for anyone besides themselves.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by fleury

I'm not sure Ja Rule really took it seriously. It seems like he got caught up in his own BS and was just trying to be the "plow through, we're a smart group, we'll pull it together with this pep talk" kind of bs that people that are high on themselves believe. He was trying to spin it, but being the idiot that he is he was more concerned about being the face of confidence. Dumb guy.

Ja Rule lives in Ja Rule land. Remember when he thought he could diss Eminem and win?. He’s an idiot.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Locke

He was the most interesting interviewee for me. Not just for that anecdote, but for the fact that he seemed like a knowledgeable, intelligent and experienced person who should have known better but kept getting dragged along by Billy.

That guy hauled Billy's ass out of the fire so many times....and why? For what? I'd have let Billy fail months before the actual thing imploded.

He was doing his job, which is to help people like Billy. He was also probably caught up in a lot of the initial BS. Billy really had some major players in social media and modeling in the beginning. He was also bringing in huge investors and likely telling everyone he had more.

Unless you were privy to all the finances and had accompanied Billy to all of his investor meetings, there'd be no way to see just how much trouble the project was in.

That being said, there would have been a lot of people who had knowledge that Billy was giving people tents, when he should have been giving them villas. People who knew there was no intention to supply what they were advertising. When you're working with someone like Billy, there's a fine line between advising him on how to avoid disaster and becoming complicit in fraud.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by blankall

He was doing his job, which is to help people like Billy. He was also probably caught up in a lot of the initial BS. Billy really had some major players in social media and modeling in the beginning. He was also bringing in huge investors and likely telling everyone he had more.

Unless you were privy to all the finances and had accompanied Billy to all of his investor meetings, there'd be no way to see just how much trouble the project was in.

That being said, there would have been a lot of people who had knowledge that Billy was giving people tents, when he should have been giving them villas. People who knew there was no intention to supply what they were advertising. When you're working with someone like Billy, there's a fine line between advising him on how to avoid disaster and becoming complicit in fraud.

I'm pretty sure he knew exactly what state the project was in. The fact that he was prepared and willing to blow a Bahamian trade minister for water kind of tells you that he had faith in Billy, but come on, I dont buy the 'just doing his job' factor at all.

He knew this was going to be a disaster especially when Billy effectively brought him in at the 11th hour to save the entire thing. Most professionals just doing their job would have told Billy to go pound sand.

Jobs have limits. He was deluding himself and he over-extended his involvement in the project. He should have cut bait well before that point.

"Hey...can you save my entire music festival project in 45 days?"

No.

He knew exactly what the state of that project was. He was trying to simplify the food, simplify the housing, make sure there were enough toilets and water.

I think his initial red flag should have been when he cut the food budget from ~$5M to less than $1M and realized that this event could never be what Billy had promised the ticket purchasers and walked at that point.

His dream that this could be 'like Woodstock' and it would succeed in spite of itself would have clued most rational professionals in that this was going to be a massive, massive debacle.

Faith in your primary investor is one thing, but this went way out of that ballpark.

Again, I get that Billy is a smooth operator but still, someone like him should have known much better.

One thing that continuously stuns me is everyone being cool with money running out and Billy jetting back and forth from New York bringing bags of cash into the Bahamas.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Billy is terrible. Ja seems like an idiot. But what about that asshat attendee who didn't want tent neighbours? Puncturing tents, pissing on mattresses when they are overbooked? Also, why admit it in an interview well after the fact?

"Hey, and fun story to let you know how me and my friends are completely piece of ####s, but we knew this thing was a debacle so we intentionally made it much worse."