Nfts
Wu-Tang Clan albums are sold as NFTs
Samples of Wu-Tang Clan’s single album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” are now available as NFTs.
Each NFT purchased accelerates the album release by 88 seconds. The album is currently 78 years from its release, according to https://www.thealbum.com
The album’s current owners PleasrDAO purchased the album for $4 million after ssperm bag Martin Shkreli was imprisoned and his property sold. The pharmaceutical industry criminal made millions by inflating the price of a drug that saves the lives of terminally ill patients. When Wu-Tang Clan auctioned off the album, he was the buyer. The album was one of the goods seized and sold during his imprisonment.
PleasrDAO has so far made 10x its money from NFT sales.
Moreover, the first public broadcast of part of the album will take place at MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in Hobart, Tasmania next week.
Ten years ago, the visionary Wu-Tang Clan released an album unlike any other in the world. Once Upon a Time in Shaolin was recorded in secret over six years and, to protest the devaluation of music in the digital age, only one physical copy of the album was created. Once Upon a Time in Shaolin has become the most expensive musical work ever sold – twice.
This album is a nostalgic journey through the rooms of a glorious era. Its announcement on March 26, 2014 as a unique work of art captivated the world’s attention and, with the 88-year marketing embargo, solidified its statement and place in music history . Never before has a music album existed in such a form. The album is presented in a handcrafted silver and nickel slipcase, alongside a 174-page leather-bound book featuring lyrics, anecdotes and behind-the-scenes photos. The intention was clear: to inspire and intensify urgent debates about the future of music, both economically and how our generation would come to experience it. But it came at a cost.
In 2015, the album was sold at auction for a whopping $2 million to Martin Shkreli, breaking records and making headlines around the world. Following Shkreli’s conviction for securities fraud, the U.S. government seized the album and in 2021 it was acquired by the art collective Pleasr for $4 million. The Wu-Tang Clan made a radical choice: in a digital world, the only way to give value to the album was to make it exclusive. This bold plan worked but at the cost of getting the music to fans. With this acquisition, Pleasr continues the album’s legacy by redefining the meaning of ownership and value of music in a digital world.
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