Billy Corgan revealed he paid a ransom to a hacker so they wouldn’t leak several songs from the “rock opera” trio of the Smashing Pumpkins Atom.
During an interview with KROQ’s Klein/Ally Show, Corgan revealed that the hacker got their hands on nine songs from the album about six months ago — right when it was on the verge of mixing and mastering. Thanks to the FBI, he was able to track down the hacker and prevent the leak.
“They were probably all the catchiest Y-type songs,” said Corgan. So it’s like, not only is it six months too early, you’re giving away the album before you even have a chance to put your feet on the ground. Somehow, some hacker was offering the files for money, and we were able to track it down and pay it off and stop it from being leaked. The FBI got involved. … I don’t know how they got what they got.”
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Noting that he paid the ransom “out of my pocket,” Corgan continued, “What we were able to do was prevent the leak from happening, because it was some kind of mercenary who hacked somebody — I don’t want to say who — and they had other stuff from other artists. It wasn’t like Some Pumpkin fans who were intent on breaking it on Reddit. Somehow, they provided some information that allowed the FBI to track them down.”
Although Corgan doesn’t know the “end result” of the investigation, he said the mercenary hacker has some other “shocking” leaks in their possession, including “classic stuff from bands from the past that might be doing reissues.” Listen to the full interview below. The hacker story starts around 8:15.
every act Atom (pronounced “autumn”) has been released separately, with the final installment released today, May 5th. It serves as the follow-up to the 2020 album Smashing Pumpkins CYR. In August, Corgan and partners will embark on “The World is a Vampire Tour” alongside Interpol and Stone Temple Pilots. Tickets are available through StubHub, orders are 100% guaranteed through Stubhub’s FanProtect Program.
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