New Smashing Pumpkins Album Will Be Free

Following in the footsteps of earlier free album releases like NIN's The Slip, the next 44-track Smashing Pumpkins opus called Teargarden by Kaleidyscope will be released to the public by the band, completely free of charge. Rather than release the entire album at once, the songs will be made available one at a time, presumably as soon as they are finished the final mastering stage.

Front man Billy Corgan released the following on the Smashing Pumpkins blog: "The album will feature 44 songs, 4 of which are now being recorded. My desire is to release a song at a time beginning around Halloween of this year, with each new release coming shortly after until all 44 are out. Each song will be made available absolutely for free, to anyone anywhere. There will be no strings attached. Free will mean free, which means you won't have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish".

The songs will also be released commercially as a group of 11 limited special edition EPs, and then and then as a complete box set. No information yet on whether the songs will be released as better than CD quality high-res files, 16/44 FLAC files, or just standard MP3s.