Sting pays former Police bandmates over $800,000 in royalties amid lawsuit

Sting has reportedly paid his former Police bandmates over $800,000 (£598,000) in royalties since they filed a lawsuit in September.

Guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland took the frontman and his publishing company to court in London for “substantial damages” last year, after years of legal disputes between the group.

They claimed that Sting owed them between $2million (1.5million) and $10.75million (£8million) in unpaid royalties, and at a hearing in London’s High Court on Wednesday (January 14), Summers and Copeland’s lawyers said their claim could rise even higher, arguing that their “historic underpayment” did not include interest.

The BBC have reported that since the legal proceedings launched, the two musicians have received a payment of “over $800,000”.

Sting denies that they are entitled to a portion of his income from streaming or download sales, arguing those formats should be categorised as “public performance” rather than sales.

Copeland and Summers did not receive writing credits on The Police’s hits, which include ‘Every Breath You Take’, a song that reportedly earns Sting £550,000 in royalties per year alone.

Even though they are not credited, they claim that they are owed “arranger’s fees” from the “digital exploitation” of the band’s back catalogue.

The band formed in 1977 and Sting initially agreed to pay Summers and Copeland 15 per cent of “some royalties” from the songs he wrote for the group. Their agreement was revised a number of times, most recently in 2016, and Sting’s lawyers now argue that his former bandmates’ lawsuit is an “illegitimate attempt” to reinterpret that agreement.

The Police sold over 75million records worldwide, won six Grammys and two BRITs and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

They initially split up in 1984, but they reunited on numerous occasions, with their most recent shows taking place in 2008, as part of a world tour that made them the highest-earning musicians in the world for that year.

Sting said in 2021 that he regretted reforming the trio in 2007, calling the tour that followed “an exercise in nostalgia”. He explained at the time that he preferred being a solo artist due to the “total freedom” it offered.

“It’s not a power thing, at all; it’s just about producing exactly the brand and style of music that feels right for you,” he said.

Elsewhere, Sting is set to play a Super Bowl spinoff concert in San Francisco on February 6, two days before the main show in Santa Clara.

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