The Daily Swarm

UPDATE: Billboard:

Corgan says he has been feuding for years with Virgin over the handling of the Pumpkins’ back catalog, but that the Pepsi/Amazon.com 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.”

AP:

The Smashing Pumpkins are suing Virgin Records, saying the record label has illegally used their name and music in promotional deals that hurt the band’s credibility with fans.

In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday, the rockers said they have “worked hard for over two decades to accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public,” and that Virgin’s use of the band in a “Pepsi Stuff” promotion with Amazon.com and Pepsi Co. threatens their reputation for “artistic integrity.”

Virgin put out the Smashing Pumpkins’ music for more than 17 years, but the only active agreement between the two parties, the lawsuit claimed, is a deal granting Virgin permission to sell digital downloads of the band’s songs. The agreement does not give Virgin the right to use the band in promotional campaigns to sell outside products, the lawsuit said.

The band members said they would “never grant such authority to Virgin, or any other entity.”

UPDATE: Press Release:

The Pumpkins are demanding, as the suit states, “a full and complete accounting of all funds received by Virgin pursuant to the Pepsi promotion” and the band is “entitled to an award of punitive damages against Virgin in an amount according to proof.”

The suit maintains that “Virgin’s action, unless and until enjoined and restrained by order of this Court, will cause great and irreparable injury to Plaintiff, as it continues to falsely attribute Plaintiff’s sponsorship and/or affiliation with the promotion, and continues to provide Plaintiff’s musical works at a price below the market value of the works, thereby damaging Plaintiff’s reputation and reducing the market value of Plaintiff’s musical works.”

Says Billy Corgan: ”‘It’s a frustrating situation honestly, to be treated so poorly by a label where we had so much success. Recently, they have ignored our pleas to give our fans special editions of our old albums, telling us they weren’t interested. So there is a tremendous amount of hypocrisy involved with them turning around and using us like this.”

“It’s another desperate attempt,” says Jimmy Chamberlin, “by an anachronistic business to generate revenue however they can, legal or illegal. They have neither the wisdom to accept their irrelevance, nor the intelligence to do something about it.” He adds: “Just goes to show that they will do about anything for money. Seems they have long forgotten how to actually ‘work’ for a dollar.”

EARLIER: Label-less Smashing Pumpkins headed back to studio: ‘I don’t think we will make records again’