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Wu Tang Clan's One- Copy- Only Album Sold for Millions of Dollars

Wu Tang Clan's "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" only has one copy in existence and one fan of the group has paid millions of dollars to get it.

According to nbcnews.com, the album was sold through an auction house, Paddle 8. They said that the buyer was an American for an undisclosed amount.

Wu Tang purposely released only one copy of their album and treat as an art piece that can also be sold in millions. The album was encased in a hand- carved box with a leather- bound 174- page manuscript written in a "gilded Fedrigoni Marina parchment."

Wu Tang member Robert Fitzgerald Diggs aka RZA said "The Wu-Tang Clan have always been driven by innovation, and this marks another moment in musical history. From the beginning, we hoped that this concept would inspire debate and new ways of seeing creativity."

The terms of the sale allows the byer to do anything with the album but the buyers "cannot commercialize it for 88 years."

Paddle8 said that Wu Tang Clan's album holds the record for "most ever spent on a single album" taking the record of $306, 000 from the "only existing album of The Quarrymen" or popularly known as The Beatles.

In a report by forbes.com, the group recorded and molded the album for around six years recording most of the work in Marrakech, Morocco.

The group decided to release only one copy because they want to "return the value of music, which has been lowered by the advent of streaming and piracy, to the level of other types of fine art."

Robert Fitzgerald Diggs also said "For art to change the way people think, it has to come from an extreme place. No monumental change ever started with a compromise or a small shift. It starts extreme."

What are your thoughts about Wu Tang Clan's decision of releasing only one copy of their album? Share it in the comments!


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