Former Smashing Pumpkins members James Iha and D'Arcy Wretzky-Brown are suing EMI's Virgin Records America for allegedly failing to pay them for music downloads and other electronic transmissions of Pumpkins songs. They claim that the label has not paid them any of their share of profits from the deal done with the band's frontman Billy Corgan in 2005.
The lawsuit states: "To date, Virgin continues to engage in the exploitation of electronic transmissions of the band's recordings without plaintiffs' consent".
This is the second time The Smashing Pumpkins have sued Virgin over digital licensing. Earlier this year, the band as a whole launched a lawsuit after the label gave tracks to a Pepsi and Amazon digital co-promotion without consent. At the time, Corgan told Rolling Stone: "We've been treated very poorly by [Virgin] as a label for years now. Even when we were going to put the band back together, we went to them for the umpteenth time and said, look, it's a natural thing to want to put out a best of, and they keep telling us nobody cares. And then to turn around and use us like this against our will obviously shows you how full of shit they are".