Constantinople Records was an upstart

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

created by Billy Corgan of

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Ch ...

. Little is known about the label and no official website or company exists. The

US Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

's website listed the label as being trademarked by Corgan. When word of the label was made public, a

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

was registered but no website ever appeared. After one year the URL had expired. The label was ultimately created to only release The Smashing Pumpkins' sixth studio album: ''

Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music ''Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music'' is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was released for free on the Internet on September 5, 2000. Plans for a standard physical release, bundl ...

'' and the EPs that were associated with it, because Corgan's relationship with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

had deteriorated. Virgin had refused to release Machina and Machina II as a double album, and when Machina sold poorly, refused entirely to release the sequel. Since the band was breaking up at the time, Corgan decided to release Machina II for free download on the internet. Only twenty-five vinyl copies were pressed, and were shipped via FedEx to several prominent fans in the online community, with instructions to immediately redistribute it on the Internet free of charge.

Releases

Five releases have come out on Constantinople Records: *CR-01: The first EP in

*CR-02: The second EP in Machina II *CR-03: The third EP in Machina II *CR-04: The double LP in Machina II *CR-05:

Live at Cabaret Metro 10-5-88 The discography of the Smashing Pumpkins, an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, consists of twelve studio albums, four live albums, one digital live album series, seven compilation albums (including box sets and prom ...

It was rumored that this label would support all future releases for work done by Billy Corgan. However, starting in 2003 he began publishing work under the label "Martha's Music," with distribution by Reprise Records.

References

E! Online News- Smashing Pumpkins' Swan Songs, September 12, 2000

Releases

References

See also