The Most Expensive Record Ever Sold Has Never Been Heard
By: Oliver Norris
Tags: Culture, Hip Hop, History, Music, Pharmaceutical

The Most Expensive Record Ever Sold Has Never Been Heard

The story of the scandals and mystery behind the biggest selling album never released Oliver Norris Follow Feb 4 · 7 min read

The most expensive record ever sold inside a silver and diamond encrusted box, Wikicommons.

The two most expensive records in history were both sold at auction in 2015. One of those albums was the first-ever copy (serial number: 0000001) of the legendary 1968 album, The White Album by the Beatles. A touchstone of Western culture, the album was released half a century previous and has influenced modern music the world over.

However, the most expensive of the two albums, at a cost of $2 million (more than double the cost of The White Album), has only ever been heard by a handful of people and is now rumoured to be owned by the United States (US) government.

The national scandal

2015 was a notable year for both the music and the pharmaceutical industry in the US.

50 years prior, Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Gertrude Elion, had developed a drug, Daraprim, that would go on to become a major part in the fight against HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) the world over.

The sole rights to this drug in the US market were bought by Turing Pharmaceuticals and it would lead to the most notorious case of price-gouging in modern history.

Over the previous half a century, Daraprim had been vital in fighting toxoplasmosis, the potentially fatal infection common in AIDs patients. Widely available at an affordable price, the drug has also been used to combat a variety of other infections. However, in 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals, with the reassurance of their monopoly on the product, hiked the price by over 5000%.

A single life-saving pill, costing around $1 to produce, shot up overnight from $13.50 to $750. Daraprim went from a common and vital aid in the battle against AIDs to a prohibitively expensive and exclusive cure available only to the mega-rich.

This didn’t go under the radar; however, as Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO, Martin Shkreli became the bafflingly willing face of this American scandal.

Martin Shkreli, Wikicommons.

He doubled down on the decision, painting the hike as a lesson for the American people on the perils of the pharmaceutical industry.

He actively engaged in his villainy, taking to Twitter and Reddit to directly and publicly reply to those calling him out as a corrupt, price-gouging corporate crook.

This wasn’t Shkreli’s first price-gouge however.

He had previously been forced out of a pharmaceutical company he founded for similar actions and had been investigated for manipulating markets in an attempt to short stocks in his previous role as a hedge fund manager.

It wasn’t until months later though that Shkreli would really become public enemy number one.

The backlash

With the advent of streaming and the decline in sales of physical copies, by 2015, the music industry and its consumers were undergoing major changes.

Streaming sites such as Spotify were drawing in hundreds of millions of subscribers and connecting artists with new audiences whilst simultaneously driving a bigger and bigger wedge between them.

On average, an artist is paid just $0.00437 for every stream of their track. Considering that track may previously have been purchased as a part of a 12-track album for $10, the effect on artists has been immeasurable.

Some artists have sought to pushback on this change.

Radiohead famously released their 2007 album In Rainbows as a “pay-what-you-can” digital download.

Infamously, in an attempt to focus sales on lucrative concert tickets for their forthcoming 360 Tour, U2 gave away their 2009 album, Songs of Innocence, for free.

The album was automatically downloaded onto 500 million iTunes accounts and suffered such a severe negative reaction from fans that Apple was forced to create a webpage showing users how to remove it.

U2 during their “360” tour, Wikicommons.

With this as a backdrop, the ever-evolving and groundbreaking hip hop group, Wu-Tang Clan, sought to make their own statement.

They set out to create an album that would never be heard by the public but would shake up the industry.

Reminiscent of Rennaissance-era painters, they would spend years crafting a masterpiece of an album before pressing one single copy and selling it to the highest bidder.

Long-standing Wu-Tang member and producer, RZA, explaining the decision said, “people don’t want to pay 99 cents for a song but pay $500 for the headphones…I was confused by the choice of the consumer at that time, so we put it in an art world that celebrates it as art.”

This was the birth of the most expensive record of all time, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

However, the sale of the album came with its own very specific stipulations.

The production

The production and contents of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin are shrouded in secrecy but it's reported that production started seven years prior to the sale in 2008.

Although the full tracklisting has never been released, rumours have circulated since.

All members of the Wu-Tang Clan make an appearance but everybody from Cher to the Barcelona football team have been said to guest on the tracks.

The Dutch actress, Carice Van Houten, star of Game of Thrones is even rumoured to appear.

Although the concept and production of the album fell to Wu-Tang affiliate, Cilvaringz, it was RZA who sought to spark a conversation about the future of the music industry.

RZA, Wikicommons.

He likened the release to the sale of art with one single copy being sought after by collectors and rightly or wrongly, being taken into private ownership rather than public release.

RZA’s desire to spark a debate came to fruition as the highest bidder turned out to be one of the most hated men in America.

The sale

The single vinyl pressing of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin was placed inside a bespoke Wu-Tang crested black and silver box and placed on the auction site, Paddle8, to be bought by the highest bidder.

To guard against the future widespread release of the album, the sale of the record came with a contract which dictated that the buyer could not attempt to sell or profit from the album for 88 years.

This didn’t turn out to be the most unique clause however as also included was a stipulation that the members of the Wu-Tang Clan (and/or Billy Murray) were legally entitled to stage one “heist or caper” to recover the album from the buyer at any time.

“The buying party also agrees that at any time during the stipulated 88 year period, the seller may legally plan and attempt to execute one (1) heist or caper to steal back Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, which, if successful, would return all ownership rights to the seller. Said heist or caper can only be undertaken by currently active members of the Wu-Tang Clan and/or actor Bill Murray, with no legal repercussions”

Bill Murry, legally entitled to one “caper”, Wikicommons.

On August 26th, 2015, the sale of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for the winning bid of $2 million and a new world record, was agreed with a private buyer.

The private buyer would very publicly reveal himself months later.

The trial

The winning, record-breaking bid was entered by Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli of Daraprim price-gouging infamy.

Just a few months later, Shkreli would be a household name for his price-gouging tactics on life-saving medicines and hip hop fans were outraged that a piece of music history was in the hands of the self-styled supervillain.

Upon learning of the buyer’s identity, RZA and Cilvaringz agreed to donate a portion of the $2 million to charity.

Music fans urged Shkreli to share the album with fans and he would spend the next two years teasing the full release, sharing snippets on his personal live streams, threatening to leave the disc in a random location and promising to share the album for free if Donald Trump was elected president.

In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president and whether Shkreli intended to release it or not, he ran out of time, as a year later he was convicted on two counts of fraud charges and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Martin Shkreli on trial in 2017, Wikicommons.

Due to his notoriety and part in the Wu-Tang clan purchase, there was some difficulty in giving Shkreli a fair trial.

Court records show that 120 jurors refused to sit on the trial with one giving his reason simply as “he disrespected the Wu-Tang”.

The final caper

At $2 million, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is the single most expensive record ever sold. It’s more than twice the price of the 2nd most expensive record, the first copy of The Beatle’s White Album which sold for $790000.

Although there are unverified bootleg copies available online and recordings of the live streams that Shkreli put out himself, not only is the future of the album uncertain but its whereabouts too.

Upon Shkreli’s arrest and imprisonment for seven years, his assets were seized, and they were rumoured to include the only pressing of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

Music fans wait with bated breath to see if the Wu-Tang Clan and/or Bill Murray are ready to launch a heist on its current owners, the US Department of Justice.