(PCM) The music world is a buzz with news of the legendary hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan’s plans to sell only one copy of their upcoming double album, The Wu — Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, for a multi-million dollar price.
According to its website, the album is part of the The Carmen Clandestine Experience, the world’s first private music service. Once Upon A Time In Shaolin is the first release for private sale through the music service, including all new tracks from the Wu-Tang Clan and includes special guests including Bonnie Jo Mason, Redman, and FC Barcelona soccer players among others.
This unprecedented move by Wu-Tang comes after several artists releasing their albums in unconventional ways; Jay-Z released his last album in partnership with Samsung this past summer and his superstar wife Beyonce dropped her latest album unannounced.
The unique album will be sold in a hand carved nickel-silver box designed by the British Moroccan artist Yahya and exhibited in museums, festivals, and galleries around the globe before it is sold to a private owner.
The Wu — Once Upon A Time In Shaolin was six years in the making, includes 31 new 
tracks from Wu-Tang Clan and was produced by Cilvaringz.
The group explained to Forbes their intentions in releasing the album in such a unique way by stating that they are attempting to change the way people view contemporary art and are hoping to create a shift in the music business. Now-a-days, most albums are leaked online and downloaded illegally; Wu-Tang is hoping to change the way consumers value music.
On the official website, producers RZA and Cilvaringz explain the concept in a note:
“#Norules.
History demonstrates that great musicians such as Beethoven, Mozart and Bach are held in the same high esteem as figures like Picasso, Michelangelo and Van Gogh. However, the creative output of today’s artists such as The RZA, Kanye West or Dr. Dre, is not valued equally to that of artists like Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst or Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Is exclusivity versus mass replication really the 50 million dollar difference between a microphone and a paintbrush? Is contemporary art overvalued in an exclusive market, or are musicians undervalued in a profoundly saturated market? By adopting a 400 year old Renaissance-style approach to music, offering it as a commissioned commodity and allowing it to take a similar trajectory from creation to exhibition to sale, as any other contemporary art piece, we hope to inspire and intensify urgent debates about the future of music. We hope to steer those debates toward more radical solutions and provoke questions about the value and perception of music as a work of art in today’s world.
While we fully embrace the advancements in music technology, we feel it has contributed to the devaluation of music as an art form. By taking this step, we hope to re-enforce the weight that music once carried alongside a painting or a sculpture. The album will be put on listening display in renowned galleries, museums, venues and exhibition spaces around the world for only the most dedicated to experience before it disappears into the private collection of a buyer. The public will know that what they will hear will be a once in a life time experience.
A notable few have explored original and creative economic models. Prince, Radiohead and more recently Jay Z and Beyonce have all introduced new financial and distribution models and challenged the industry structure. In 1993, the Wu-Tang Clan introduced the revolutionary ‘Wu-Tang deal’ which allowed the group to sign with one record label as an entity, but sign separate deals with other major labels for solo releases. It was an approach adopted by many groups that followed. Now 21 years later a new approach is introduced, one where the pride and joy of sharing music with the masses is sacrificed for the benefit of reviving music as a valuable art and inspiring debate about its future among musicians, fans and the industry that drives it. Simultaneously, it launches the private music branch as a new luxury business model for those able to commission musicians to create songs or albums for private collections. It is a fascinating melting pot of art, luxury, revolution and inspiration. It’s welcoming people to an old world.“
Cilvaringz & The RZA”
Some music industry pundits and professionals have criticized the move, like Reuters’ Felix Salmon who called the album “self defeating.” Everyone can agree that the move is no doubt a unique approach that will likely have lasting effects on how music is valued and consumed.
Acknowledging the possibility of failure, producer Cilvaringz told Forbes: “I know it sounds crazy, it might totally flop, and we might be completely ridiculed. But the essence and core of our ideas is to inspire creation and originality and debate, and save the music album from dying.”
As a fan of Wu-Tang, I know I’m definitely going to have to catch the album on it’s exhibition tour. As far as the effects this album will have on the music industry as a whole, only time will tell so stay tuned!
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