Days after they sued the record’s former owner, Martin Shkreli, for marking unauthorized copies of it and playing it for people, crypto collective PleasrDAO have announced they are selling Wu-Tang Clan‘s one-of-a-kind Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, which they acquired in 2021, for $1, as NFTs. It’s available for purchase now and a press release reads:

Pleasr now continues that investigation of the meaning of digital ownership. The album has been digitized and encrypted and is available for sale for $1 on www.thealbum.com, with new artwork designed by Hassan Rahim. Each sale will bring the album’s release closer from the original date of October 8th 2103 and will immediately unlock exclusive access to an album sampler created by the album’s co-producer, Cilvaringz. Additional music from the album will become available as Pleasr works with the original artists to deliver it to the owners of the encrypted album over the coming weeks.

With this new innovation in the album’s decade–long journey, Pleasr is working to accelerate the original release date through collective participation and posing a simple question: are we willing to pay artists for new works in the digital age? The encrypted album is distributed in partnership with Privy, Crossmint, and Holograph and is built on Base. Users will not need cryptocurrency to participate, and all major credit cards will be accepted. Proceeds will go in part to the original Wu-Tang Clan, the album producer, and performing artists.

PleasrDAO wrote more about how it works on Twitter:

They also have a quote from RZA and Cilvaringz, which reads, “The music industry is in crisis… we hope to inspire and intensify urgent debates about the future of music.”

Skhreli also, unsurprisingly, had something to say in response: