One-of-a-kind recording of “Blowin’ in the Wind” sells for $1.7 million at auction

Sixty years since his debut album, Bob Dylan remains as relevant as ever. In 2020, months after releasing his 39th studio album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan sold his songbook for a reported $500 million, setting a new industry standard for the acquisition of artists’ song catalogs.

And now Dylan’s leading the charge on a unique physical music format.

The 81-year-old singer-songwriter recently tracked a new version of his iconic tune “Blowin’ in the Wind” with longtime collaborator and Americana-whisperer T Bone Burnett. The recording was then etched onto one of Burnett’s new high-quality analog audio discs. The first ever Ionic Original, the recording sold for a whopping $1,769,508 at a recent Christie’s auction.

In a press release, Burnett said that, with his new audio format, he aims to create a demand in the fine arts market for musical recordings.