Sting’s Lawyer Claims Bandmates Have “Already Been Overpaid”

Photo Credit: Mehreen Rizvi

Sting’s lawyer has claimed that bandmates have “already been overpaid”. Former Police bandmates, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland are suing Sting for millions in lost royalties. Although the artist’s lawyer has released a statement, Sting has yet to formally address this issue. 

The band Police released a mega-hit titled “Every Breath You Take” in 1983. One of the biggest pop hits of all time, its sole credited songwriter is Sting, the band’s singer and bassist. However, Summers came up with the arpeggiated “Every Breath You Take” riff, one of the elements that Puff Daddy sampled on his enormously successful 1997 single “I’ll Be Missing You.” 

According to a New York Times story about the lawsuit, Sting allegedly came up with an agreement with his two bandmates when they started the Police in 1977. Sting reportedly promised Summers and Copeland 15% of “some royalties” from the songs that Sting wrote by himself, and that effort was meant to “keep things sweet” within the band. 

Summers and Copeland argue that Sting now owes them “arranger’s fees” from the “digital exploitation” of the Police’s music. Sting’s lawyers contend that Sting and his bandmates signed an agreement over arranger’s fees in 2016, when the former bandmates came to a disagreement over use of the Police’s songs in TV shows and movies. Stereogum reports that according to Sting’s lawyers, the lawsuit is an “illegitimate attempt” to reinterpret the agreement and that Sting actually “substantially overpaid” Summers and Copeland, based on the terms of that 2016 agreement. Those interested  can read the full Times report here.