Ha! Ha!
I doubt much will come of this, but it has been revealed today that Smashing Pumpkins have filed a lawsuit against Virgin Records for breach of contract. It turns out that Billy Corgan and company don't really like being associated with advertising campaigns such as the new "Pepsi Stuff" one. Since they never authorized their name to be used in such a way, off they went to Los Angeles Superior Court.
The basis of the suit is simple: the band feels they have worked hard to "accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public" and their names being mentioned in conjunction with Pepsi and Amazon.com damages their artistic integrity.
Smashing Pumpkins does have a deal with Virgin, who released their music for most of their career, but the current deal only applies to selling digital versions of their songs and nothing beyond that. The suit contends the label is not authorized to use their name for promotional campaigns, and the band is asking for profits earned from the promotion, as well as an injunction that will prevent their name from being used in this way again.
As Shoutmouth's armchair legal expert, with hours of training via Court TV, I'm going to take a guess on how this wraps up, even though we'll probably never hear another word about it to know for certain. Someone at Virgin says, "ugh, how do we make this go away?" and someone else pulls out the great big Virgin Records checkbook. They meet in a room with Billy Corgan's legal team, write some numbers on paper, eventually everyone nods and smiles, a check is written, and this problem goes away.
The thing I find most amusing about this story is Smashing Pumpkins actually think their goodwill in the eyes of the public is somehow harmed by a commercial. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what "goodwill in the eyes of the public" even is, or how one harms it. Actually, no. The most amusing thing is most people probably didn't even realize Smashing Pumpkins were mentioned in a commercial, until they filed the suit. Ah, irony.
To sum: Billy Corgan is angry. Virgin Records will pay for this. Billy Corgan will sleep on an even bigger pile of cash than he usually does. Order is restored to the universe, and Smashing Pumpkins maintain their goodwill. Hallelujah!
