As icy wind and rain lashed the side of Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) on Saturday afternoon, a group of Wu-Tang Clan fans started to arrive.
They were taken down a series of hallways, then to a security checkpoint where they deposited everything in their pockets.
After a scan with a metal detector, they were led through a nondescript door and into MONA's recording studio, followed by a group of security guards who locked the doors.
Behind that door, a 30-minute minute mix of music was played from Wu-Tang Clan's seventh studio album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.
Very few people have heard the album – completed in 2013, after six years of secret recording – with it limited to one physical copy in a hand-carved nickel and silver box set, no known digital form, and a release date in the year 2103.
It's the most expensive album ever sold, and from June 15 to 24, it's on loan at MONA as part of a broader exhibit – with a waiting list of 5,000 people wanting to hear it, but unable to secure a spot.
Hobart hiphop artist Hayden Kovacic was one of the lucky ones, and on his way inside, said it was a dream come true.
"I thought I'd be dead before it was publicly released," Mr Kovacic said.
"They're my biggest inspiration, bro. They're my inspiration for how I do everything.
"Wu-Tang is life."
Listeners laud a unique artistic experience
Leader of hiphop collective Wu-Tang Clan, Robert 'RZA' Diggs and producer Tarik 'Cilvaringz' Azzougarh, decided to keep the 31-track album secret as a protest against what they saw as the devaluation of music in the digital era.
It means very little is known about the tracks, with only sporadic details reaching the public over the past decade – such as its cameos with Cher and FC Barcelona soccer players.
The MONA listening event offered fans the most insight yet.
It didn't disappoint.
"The production was off its head. Classic '93 to 2000 Wu-Tang. Cilvaringz killed that," Mr Kovacic said.
"I hope lots of people get to hear it one day."
Cameron McBryde travelled from Brisbane for the day and felt like it was more than just an audio experience.
"It's cool to think that there is a piece of music that we've just listened to, that is treated like a piece of art," Mr McBryde said.
"You can't send it to your friend or anything like that... and that's very special.
"I don't know another song or album anywhere else in the world that holds that same value."
Legal dispute over alleged unauthorised streaming
While the fans had their unique listening experience, the album is now part of a bitter legal dispute.
And its secrets might reach the public sooner than thought.
Ever since its release, the album has generated debate about the power of streaming services, how music can be retained in its purest form and, most recently, whether any music can truly be kept secret in the digital era.
It was sold to "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli for US$2 million in 2015.
Best known for raising the price of lifesaving drug Daraprim by 5,500 per cent, Mr Shkreli was jailed in 2017 for committing security fraud – and had to surrender the album as part of a US$7.4 million forfeiture order.
Digital art collective PleasrDAO bought the physical copy for US$4 million in 2021, and said that earlier this year it bought the copyrights and exclusive rights for a further US$750,000.
But it's become concerned that it might not be the only copy of the album in existence.
Following his release from prison in 2022, Mr Shkreli allegedly mentioned during various live streams that he "made MP3 copies" of the album, and had played it on Youtube.
"Of course I made MP3 copies, they're like hidden in safes all around the world … I'm not stupid. I don't buy something for 2 million dollars just so I can keep one copy," Mr Shkreli is alleged to have said.
Further comments and online activity by Mr Shkreli are included in a complaint filed by PleasrDAO in Brooklyn federal court in the United States on Monday.
Earlier this month, Mr Shkreli is alleged to have started a live stream on social media platform X where he played the album, during which 4,900 listeners turned in.
The quality of that stream is unclear, but one response described it as sounding "like talking on a speaker phone", while another said it sounded like coming through "cheap speakers".
PleasrDAO alleged that Mr Shkreli's conducted risks harming the value of the album and that he had violated the forfeiture order.
"Any dissemination of the Album's music to the general public greatly diminishes and/or destroys the Album's value, and significantly damages PleasrDAO's reputation and ability to commercially exploit the album," the filing reads.
On Tuesday, United States district judge Pamela Chan said the claim was "likely to succeed on the merits", and made various interim orders against Mr Shkreli, including that he not stream the album.
More fans could get a chance to listen
Having reportedly purchased the rights to 16 of the 31 tracks on the album, PleasrDAO has started making five-minute samples available for $1 – via the purchase of a non-fungible token (NFT).
Each purchase brings the album's 2103 release date closer by 88 seconds, while PleasrDAO says the proceeds will go, in part, to the artists and producer.
"Pleasr has been secretly working with the original artists and producer to release Once Upon a Time in Shaolin to the public," a statement reads.
"True to its historic origins, this will not be a normal album sale but an artistic experiment.
"It's time to ask a simple question: do people still value music in a digital age?"
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