Drug profiteer puts rare music on sale
Disgraced pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli is selling his coveted single copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album — but he might also destroy it.
The 34-year-old businessman — whose price hike of a critical HIV/AIDS drug and smug demeanour have earned him the moniker “Most Hated Man in the US” — in 2015 bought Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, of which the celebrated rap ensemble made a sole edition.
A month after his conviction for securities fraud, Shkreli put the album for sale on eBay late on Tuesday — and with characteristic bravado said he had never fully listened to it.
“At any time I may cancel this sale and I may even break this album in frustration,” he wrote in a note for the auction, which will run until September 15.
The double-CD, for which Shkreli paid $2m in what was considered the most expensive yet purchase of a musical recording, was selling on Wednesday afternoon for a little more than $200,000.
Shkreli insisted he did not need money, but rather was trying to make a larger point. He was roundly criticised for buying the album, including by WuTang Clan member Ghostface Killah who said the work should belong to the people. “I decided to purchase this album as a gift to the Wu-Tang Clan for their tremendous musical output. “Instead, I received scorn from at least one of their [least intelligent] members, and the world at large failed to see my purpose of putting a serious value behind music,” Shkreli wrote.
“I will be curious to see if the world values music nearly as much as I have.”
The Wu-Tang Clan, reflecting the group’s fascination with fantasy narratives, made just one copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and stored it in a vault in Morocco while auctioning it.
AT ANY TIME, I MAY CANCEL THIS SALE AND I MAY EVEN BREAK THIS ALBUM IN FRUSTRATION
The Wu-Tang Clan declared that the album could not be made available commercially until the year 2103, but indicated that its owner was free to share it with private parties.
RZA, generally considered the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan, has said that the group approved the sale of the album before Shkreli made headlines by jacking up the price of HIV/AIDS drug Daraprim, from $13.50 to $750 a pill overnight.
A Brooklyn jury last month found Shkreli guilty on three unrelated counts of securities fraud, although he was acquitted on the most serious of those charges.