Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan Paid Hacker A Ransom To Not Leak Songs

Today was not the greatest day for the Smashing Pumpkins.

In a new interview, Pumpkins' lead singer Billy Corgan revealed he had to pay a ransom in order for new Smashing Pumpkins songs to not be leaked.

The frontman for one of alternative rock's biggest bands even said that the FBI had to get involved before he ultimately decided to pay the money to stop the music from being heard ahead of time.

"Somehow, some hacker was offering the files for money, and we were able to trace it and pay off and keep it from leaking," Corgan told the Klein Ally Show.

Kind of a ballsy move for someone to pull off against someone who looks like this:

The Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan paid a ransom in order for a hacker to not release their new music. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

And these weren't just some B-sides or demos... these were the mastered versions of tracks most recently featured on the Pumpkins' "Atum" album that dropped last week.

“They were all probably the most catchy, single-y type songs. So not only is it six months too early, you’re pretty much giving away the album before you even have a chance to set your feet into the ground.

"The FBI got involved. I don’t know how they got what they got," Corgan continued.

SMASHING PUMPKINS HAVE WON 2 GRAMMY AWARDS

It's unclear exactly how much Corgan had to fork over to the digital hacker to retrieve his songs.

The hacker was able to get into a mutual friend of the band's computer where the files were stored.

"It was a mercenary person who had hacked somebody, I don’t want to say who, and they had other stuff from other artists. It wasn’t like some Pumpkins fan who was hellbent on breaking it on Reddit," Corgan continued.

Regardless though, the now 56-year-old Corgan said the hell with this and wasn't going to let all that hard work be ruined by someone with a keyboard.

So far there's been no arrests made. However, if the perpetrator does end up getting caught, I'm sure Corgan - who owns the NWA professional wrestling league - wouldn't be opposed to sending some of his wrestling roster to the jail cell to meet said perpetrator.

If you want to legally check out the new Pumpkins jams, you can now see the band live on tour across the country.