Photo: Kravitz/FilmMagic
For someone who once released a double CD, Billy Corgan has had it with the album. “I was never comfortable with the album format,” Corgan tells Rolling Stone. “It always felt so forced and was obviously an economic decision made by others and not an artistic decision made by creators. It can be draining to try to record 15 songs over a six-month period.”

Smashing Pumpkins celebrate 20 years of rock in New York: photos.

True to his word, the in-progress, psychedelic-leaning Smashing Pumpkins album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, will be released one track at a time, as free downloads, starting in late October. “No strings attached, no e-mail address need be given, no fees, nothing, totally free,” he says. “A 44-song free-for-all!” Even when it will be available physically, the format will be 11 EPs with four tracks each. “I thought it would emphasize that each song is really important to me,” he says, “and also try to get myself up to the speed of a world that is absolutely devouring information.” (more…)

More and more superstar acts are departing major labels to sign deals with other promotion companies (like Madonna’s partnership with Live Nation) or heading out on their own to deliver their music directly to fans (like the recent emancipation of Nine Inch Nails). For the details of the latest deals, as well as the effect this trend will have on the rest of the industry, click here, plus check out our exclusive Q&A with Billy Corgan.

[Photo: Walter/Getty]

• The Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin will be inducted into the RockWalk next Wednesday, April 23rd, joining Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley and others who already have spots on the Hollywood sidewalk.
• Mötley Crüe will become the first band to release a brand-new single through the video game Rock Band when “Saints of Los Angeles” becomes available on the Xbox Live Marketplace today and on the Playstation Store on Thursday.
• Taylor Swift and American Idol alumna Kellie Pickler won big at last night’s CMT Awards, with Pickler picking up three awards and Swift winning Video of the Year and Top Female. Other winners include Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and Bon Jovi & LeAnn Rimes.
• Busta Rhymes and Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda are filming the video for “We Made It,” the first single from Rhymes’ upcoming album, today in Los Angeles.

[Photo: Getty]

As Rock Daily has already reported, this week the Smashing Pumpkins filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against their former label, Virgin Records, alleging the band’s name was used without permission for a Pepsi promotion. Band leader Billy Corgan called up Rolling Stone’s Evan Serpick from a bathroom in Australia to explain his side of the story and wound up dishing dirt on his career, explaining how the Pumpkins will release music in the future and offering an opinionated take on Amy Winehouse, Radiohead and the state of the record industry: “I don’t think the Beatles would be making an album right now.” Click here for Corgan on Radiohead, Amy Winehouse and more.

Billy Corgan has decided to take the “smashing” part of his band’s name quite literally: he has loaned the song “Doomsday Clock” to a pay-per-view event called “Undeniable,” being put on by a wrestling company called Ring of Honor. The promotion, which features cult-favorite performers like “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson and the Necro Butcher, counts Corgan as a fan. Corgan’s lyrics have always been inscrutable, but as the above video illustrates, “Doomsday Clock” is apparently about piledriving men through tables.