By Jonathan Cohen
NEW YORK (Billboard) -
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy
Corgan said his recent breach-of-contract lawsuit against
Virgin Records comes on the heels of a lengthy feud with the
band's former label over the handling of its back catalog.
The rock band sued Virgin on Monday, claiming that the EMI
Group unit used its name, music and image without its
permission in a "Pepsi Stuff" promotion to market the soft
drink and Amazon.
Corgan told Billboard that he had been at loggerheads
with Virgin for years, but that the Pepsi/Amazon promotion
"crosses the Rubicon. You're going to see more of this playing
fast and loose with the rules, hoping they don't get caught. At
face value, it's not a huge deal. But in terms of precedent, it
is, because there will be much more of this coming."
The problem is that according to the contract the Pumpkins
renegotiated with Virgin in the late '90s, both parties are
partners on the catalog. Corgan, on tour with the Smashing
Pumpkins in Australia, said his frequent overtures to Virgin
about releasing archival material and expanded editions of the
band's albums had met with resistance every step of the way.
"We've made offers to buy it all," he said. "Look, you have
no interest. Let us just buy it. But they won't put a number on
it. They've atrophied the catalog down so low that they
probably hope we'll crawl back and ask for cash."
That won't stop the band from offering unreleased music to
fans before the year is out. Potentially in the pipeline are
rare early Smashing Pumpkins shows, studio tracks that have
never seen the light of day or alternate versions of songs from
sessions that spawned albums like "Siamese Dream" and "Mellon
Collie and the Infinite Sadness."
The group, which is now a free agent after the expiration
of its one-album deal with Warner Bros., is also
conceptualizing the gradual release of new music in bundles,
culminating in an eventual album project. "We may start to
release pieces as we go along, and the album comes out over two
to three years," said Corgan, who labels this period as both
"fun" and "exciting."
After a summer break, look for the Pumpkins to return to
the road in September for shows in New York, Los Angeles and
its Chicago hometown.
A Virgin spokeswoman declined comment on the lawsuit,
citing a policy against discussing pending litigation.
Reuters/Billboard
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