Billy Corgan paid a hacker to stop leaks of new Smashing Pumpkins music

Billy Corgan has revealed he was forced to pay a hacker to stop them from leaking new The Smashing Pumpkins music.

READ MORE: The Smashing Pumpkins – ‘ATUM’ review: bombastic space-rock opera with anthems

The third and final part of The Smashing Pumpkins’ rock opera ‘ATUM’ was released yesterday (May 5), serving as a sequel to their classic double records ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ (1995) and ‘Machina/The Machines Of God’ (2000).

But according to vocalist Billy Corgan, a hacker got their hands on nine tracks from the record six months ago and threatened to leak them.

“They were all probably the most catchy, single-y type songs,” Corgan said in an interview on KROQ’s Klein/Ally Show [viaConsequence]. “You’re pretty much giving away the album before you even have a chance to set your feet into the ground.”

Corgan went on to say that he still doesn’t know how the hacker got the songs but was alerted to the leak via a fan. The hacker was “offering the files for money” which Corgan paid from his own back pocket to “stop the leak from happening”.

He went on to explain the hacker wasn’t a “Pumpkins fan that was hellbent on breaking it on Reddit,” but a mercenary. “They had other stuff from other artists,” Corgan continued. “They had stuff that was shocking to me, classic stuff from bands of the past probably doing reissues. I don’t think any of that stuff has been leaked out, so whatever happened, it all got shut down.”

Corgan said that the hacker in question “gave [away] some information that allowed the FBI to track them,” but doesn’t know the “end result” of that investigation yet.

Last year, Corgan told NME about crafting the 33-song ‘ATUM’ project. “There’s a lot of people who believe less is more these days. I’m on the opposite side – I actually think more is more,” he said.

He previously admitted that his idea for a triple album was initially met with “a big shrug” from his bandmates.

In a four-star review, NME wrote: “As albums go, ‘ATUM’ is an ambitious body of work and does ask a lot of its audience. But there’s also plenty on here to please any diehard Pumpkins fan.”

The post Billy Corgan paid a hacker to stop leaks of new Smashing Pumpkins music appeared first on NME.