We've seen a lot of artists willingly hand over their tunes to be used in commercials and the like, and it's ranged from acceptable (Wilco's VW ads) to pretty goddamn embarrassing (of Montreal's Outback Steakhouse ads), but some folks just aren't into it at all.

Take Billy Corgan, for example. Virgin Records has been releasing the Smashing Pumpkins' music for 17 years, and they have a contract granting Virgin the right to sell their music via digital download. Unfortunately, Virgin got a little creative with their interpretation of the contract and included a Smashing Pumpkins song in a batch of MP3s available on Amazon.com to consumers who cash in their Pepsi Stuff Points. The band filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit yesterday, saying they had "worked hard for over two decades to accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public," and claimed that this misuse of their music compromised their reputation and integrity.

I respect that. Though as I scan the list of artists whose MP3s are also available through this promotion, it makes me wonder why no one else raised as much of a fuss. "Comfortably Numb"? Everyone knows you don't fuck with Roger Waters. And the Shins definitely don't appear to have a problem with it, as they are featured in the "Artist Spotlight". A lesson in choosing your battles may come forth for Billy Corgan, but that remains to be seen.

Interestingly enough, I perused the Pepsi Stuff/Amazon MP3 library and it is now mysteriously difficult to find the offending Pumpkins track. Hrm!