Last week, a “lost” 1994 album from electronic musician Aphex Twin, recorded under the name Caustic Window, was distributed to fans who threw in $16 each for a digital copy of the album on Kickstarter. It was also uploaded to YouTube, which was sort of a slap in the face for those who threw down dollars for it, but hey, the Internet moves quickly.
The album was also put up for bid on eBay, and on Monday it was finally purchased for $46,300. The original asking price, when the album first appeared on Discogs in April, was $13,500. The lucky winner of the double album? Markus "Notch" Persson, developer of the video game Minecraft.
So I kinda paid a lot for a double LP from the '90s..
— Markus Persson (@notch) June 23, 2014Minecraft is very successful, so it’s not surprising Persson had $46,300 ready to drop. You could look at this as a bit of unintentional synergy: The hours you’ve spent playing Minecraft helped its creator purchase an obscure electronic double album, so the geek circle is complete. Looks like some players have already toyed with the idea of adding Aphex Twin to Minecraft.
Earlier today, the man behind the Kickstarter campaign wrote on We Are the Music Makers, the forum where the idea originally started: “My daughter was blown away that the guy who made the game she endlessly plays bought a record off her dad for 46K."
A portion of the bid will go to charity.
H/T A.V. Club | Photo via cheriorbit (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Jason Reed