LimeWire Acquires Fyre Festival, Plans Fresh Start With a Crypto Spin

LimeWire has acquired Fyre Competition, eight years after what’s broadly thought to be the most disastrous try ever at throwing a pageant. Beforehand led by founder Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, LimeWire has gutted the Fyre crew and is plotting a contemporary, crypto-fueled begin for the controversial model.

Julian Zehetmayr, CEO of LimeWire, instructed Decrypt that acquisition prices totaled roughly $230,000. He warned that the crew’s plans are nonetheless of their infancy as they pin down specifics within the coming months, and that he expects a extra detailed announcement to be launched in early 2026.

What the CEO did affirm, nonetheless, is that LimeWire plans for there to be a bodily occasion of some type and that crypto will certainly play a task within the pageant’s new chapter.

“The plan is admittedly to correctly and deeply combine the LimeWire token into what we’re doing with Fyre,” Zehetmayr instructed Decrypt. “We positively wish to do some form of redemption for previous holders of tickets as properly. I feel that is one thing the place you can contain crypto and even NFTs.”

That mentioned, he warned there are “no actual plans but,” however confirmed that the crew will “positively” combine the LimeWire token in a roundabout way. Zehetmayr additionally didn’t rule out the possibilities of an AI musician as a headliner, relying on how simple it will likely be to draw “actual expertise” with the Fyre model.

Why is LimeWire doing this?

Individuals could keep in mind LimeWire as the favored early 2000s peer-to-peer music sharing service. It was generally known as a breeding floor for pirated music and viruses, later changing into an icon of the early web. Nonetheless, it shut down in 2011 after shedding a piracy authorized battle with the Recording Business Affiliation of America.

In 2022, LimeWire was relaunched as an NFT market with new house owners and Zehetmayr on the helm. It has since moved nearer to its roots, with the CEO evaluating it to WeTransfer with a “decentralized backend” and an Ethereum token as well. The corporate believes the relaunch has been successful, claiming that it attracts 2.5 million lively month-to-month customers.

Fyre Competition, by comparability, is arguably one of many best-known festivals on the earth—for all of the unsuitable causes. It was branded as an opulent occasion hosted on a personal island, marketed by massive celebs, and mentioned to be stuffed with “the most effective in meals, artwork, music, and journey.” Tickets value visitors as much as $100,000.

On arrival, nonetheless, the Fyre Competition was revealed to be something however luxurious.

Moderately, visitors discovered catastrophe reduction tents as the location was nonetheless beneath building, with unfastened security measures and limp cheese sandwiches that grew to become a meme. No main artists finally carried out, and visitors have been evacuated after the primary evening.

The epic failure embedded itself into the general public consciousness with the 2019 launch of a Netflix documentary, which was nominated for 4 Emmys. An try by McFarland—contemporary out of jail—to launch a brand new Fyre Competition earlier this 12 months was finally canceled.

The LimeWire crew believes that it might revitalize the Fyre model, identical to it did with the file-sharing platform.

“Fyre, in any case, is a widely known model. Clearly, everyone is aware of it. It’s additionally a problem for us,” Zehetmayr mentioned. “Two notorious manufacturers. We imagine the manufacturers match collectively.”

Nonetheless, LimeWire is totally conscious that it’s adopting a model that has been shamed from all angles. In truth, it plans to embrace the meme-worthy facet of Fyre’s failings.

“We’re not attempting to take it too severely right here. We’re not performing like we purchased a premium model that’s value so much,” Zehetmayr instructed Decrypt. “All the pieces we’ll do can be clearly based mostly round humor and taking ourselves not too severely. I feel that is actually necessary. I feel there will be, hopefully, a variety of humorous memes and merch, and so on., coming sooner or later.”