Smashing Pumpkins: for members only

Billy Corgan apparently knows the way to win back the hearts of Smashing Pumpkins fans: charge them.

In a bizarre maketing move, the now lone Pumpkin has launched a new video blog that will document the process of recording the next Smashing Pumpkins record (and, we would assume, the auditioning of potential new band members).

But here's the catch: Corgan is charging $40 for access to the blog (for only 12 weeks of access!), with the promise of five updates a week. Each clip is said to last five minutes in length.

The "wizard's curtain"?

"I am excited to make this offer to anyone who might be interested in what goes on behind the wizard's curtain," Corgan says. "It is my goal to far exceed the normal documentary process and use the moment to create something that invokes synchronicity, electricity and faith into a moment that is ever unfolding."

Sounds neat enough. But asking Smashing Pumpkins fans to fork over forty smackers to watch what other bands feature for free on their websites...we don't know about that, Billy.

And make no mistake: Corgan is dead serious about the cash-only stipulation, warning readers that if they don't sign up, the idea will be scrapped and "The project will be set aside for a future time." (Threat or promise? You decide.)

Guess in these difficult economic times, being a Pumpkin (and a Pumpkin fan) is going up too.