Smashing Pumpkins Defend Their “Artistic Integrity”

The Smashing Pumpkins have filed a lawsuit against former record label Virgin Records, over the allegedly unauthorized use of their music in promotional activities with Amazon.com and Pepsi.

The Smashing Pumpkins claim the label used the band name in promotional activities without the right to do so. The lawsuit they filed this week claims the label had the rights to sell digital downloads of the band’s music, but not to use their name for promotional activities.

Frontman Billy Corgan spoke exclusively to Billboard.com this week, saying Virgin breached its contract with the band by using the Pumpkins in a Pepsi Stuff promotion without its permission.

“I’m sure they indicated to Pepsi that they had a right to do this, full well knowing they do not have the right,” he told Billboard.com by phone from Australia, where the band is touring.

The musician added that the band and Virgin have had disagreements before over similar matters, but that the Pepsi Stuff 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.”

A Virgin spokesperson said the company does not comment on pending litigation, Billboard adds.

The Smashing Pumpkins left the label when they disbanded in 2000. When they reunited in 2005, they made a one-album deal with Reprise Records, a division of Warner Bros. The group is now a free agent.

Corgan and co. are upset that they have “worked hard for over two decades to accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public,” and that Virgin is now affecting their credibility and “artistic integrity,” as quoted by the Associated Press from the documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday.

The lawsuit demands that Virgin pay with the profits earned in the promotion and asks for an injunction against using the Pumpkins’ name or music in the future.