Electronic music fans are known to champion obscure releases as a point of pride, but one Discogs sale has left even the artist himself in disbelief. 2008’s Choose Your Weapon by the virtually unheard-of Scaramanga Silk has exchanged hands for the sum of $41,095 – an all-time record for the online directory and marketplace.
Choose Your Weapon marked the U.K. producer’s debut, a self-release for which only 20 vinyl records were pressed according to a popsike.com listing. In the years to follow, the title track amassed a cult following among breakbeat, electro and rave enthusiasts – but that doesn’t appear to have translated into a bigger platform for the artist himself. At the time of writing, Spotify reports only five monthly Scaramanga Silk listeners; his Facebook and Twitter pages have 257 and 757 followers, respectively.
The exchange was made between two Discogs users following an auction, so Scaramanga Silk does not receive any of the sum. “It is very difficult to understand why the release went for that kind of money, as I do not believe that any record is worthy of such a valuation,” he told Discogs. “The individual who made the purchase must have had some kind of special connection to the work too.”
“It means a lot that Choose Your Weapon is so special to somebody,” he went on. “However, it is disappointing to see a promotional item reach such prices in the resale market when the artist sees no remuneration at all. Second-hand trading of records in this way seems to overly favor sellers rather than musicians or record buyers.”
The second-highest Discogs sale was for Prince‘s 1987 LP The Black Album at $27,500, and the third highest was for Love Me Do by The Beatles for $15,411.
