Two former members of the Smashing Pumpkins are suing Virgin Records, claiming the label shut them out of profits after signing a deal with the band’s frontman Billy Corgan.
In their lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, James Iha and D’Arcy Wretzky-Brown, both 40, accused Virgin Records America Inc. of not paying them for music downloads and other digitally delivered Smashing Pumpkins music.
Iha and Wretzky-Brown, who were founding members of the Smashing Pumpkins, said in their lawsuit that, five years after the band first broke up in 2000, Virgin entered into a deal with Corgan, and began licensing Smashing Pumpkins music through electronic transmissions.
“To date, Virgin continues to engage in the exploitation of electronic transmissions of the band’s recordings without plaintiffs’ consent,” the lawsuit states.
