In a somewhat expected turn of events, another business venture linked to Fyre Festival has unraveled. Earlier this year, roughly eight years after the infamous disaster that was the original Fyre Fest, founder Billy McFarland finalized a deal to sell the festival’s intellectual property and trademarks to filmmaker Shawn Rech. Rech’s plan was to then rebrand the Fyre name for use in launching a music streaming platform.

While the idea of reviving a brand best known for chaos, cheese sandwiches and broken promises seemed questionable at best, Rech defended the decision. “I needed a big name that people would remember, even if it’s attached to infamy… We’re building something authentic and lasting.” That “something” will now need a fresh title, as the deal has officially collapsed according to Stereogum. 

This morning, McFarland took to Instagram with an update, sharing, “We had a seven-figure deal for the complete Fyre brand and IP package that fell through this morning.” He then shed a more positive light on the failure by viewing it as a new opportunity. “Now, the opportunity to own the Fyre brand is back on the table.”

This comes shortly after McFarland announced his intention to remove himself from the Fyre equation entirely. On April 23rd, he stated, “To succeed, it’s clear that I need to step back and allow a new team to move forward independently.” He elaborated further, saying, “There is a clear path for operators and entrepreneurs with strong domain expertise to build FYRE into a global force in entertainment, media, fashion, CPG and more.”

The brand had been up for sale amid difficulties securing a location for the planned Fyre Festival sequel. McFarland emphasized that this move is to prevent a repeat of the 2017 disaster, which famously inspired a Netflix documentary and landed him in prison for fraud. Despite this, McFarland continues to hint that a new iteration of the festival may still be in the works.