Nfts
Wu-Tang Album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” Is Now an NFT
Wu-Tang Clan’s one-of-a-kind album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin has been transformed into an NFT offering by PleasrDAO. Pleasr acquired the album for $4.75 million after the United States government seized and sold it as part of a judgment against convicted criminal Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli.
The encrypted album was made available today on a dedicated website for $1. The NFT album resides on Base, which is Coinbase’s layer 2 Ethereum scaling network. Distribution of NFTs will be carried out by Pleasr in collaboration with Privy, Crossmint and Holograph.
The Wu-Tang Clan created the album and only sold one copy in 2015, with a stipulation that the album’s owners could not exploit it commercially until 2103. PleasrDAO says it has worked in secret with the album’s producers over the past six months to obtain exclusive rights to commercialize the music from the album. According to Pleasr, he has so far acquired the commercial rights to 16 of the album’s 31 tracks.
“This album was created to challenge what it means to value music in the digital world, Leighton Cusack, founder of PleasrDAO. said Decrypt. “This is the new technology that allows us to bring ownership back to the digital world. And does this restore value to music?
Album NFTs can be purchased by credit card or Apple Pay as part of an off-chain payment flow. Through this process, users have a crypto wallet created for them with the NFT purchased, created and deposited. Pleasr says this is an attempt to bring blockchain technology into the cultural mainstream by attracting hip-hop fans who may have wanted to hear this legendary album for almost a decade.
Former owner Martin Shkreli a judge blocked it from live streaming .mp3 files, he ripped the album, while PleasrDAO filed a lawsuit against Pharma Bro. Shkreli paid $2 million for the album in 2015 and lost it in a deal. Forfeiture of $7.4 million order after his 2017 conviction for investor fraud. Shkreli told an audience during a live stream, “I was playing it on YouTube the other night even though someone paid $4 million for it.” Thousands of people listened to the stream, which Shkreli titled “Official Wu Tang Listening Party.”
THE trial seeks to demand that Shkreli destroy his .mp3 copies of the songs, disgorge all profits from the release of the music, and pay compensatory and punitive damages for the release of the music in violation of the original agreement and its order of confiscation.