The Police’s Royalty Battle Pits Streaming vs. Physical Sales

Sting has paid his former Police bandmates more than $800,000 in royalty fees since Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland sued him late last year, according to the BBC. They say it’s not nearly enough.

Copeland and Summers filed a lawsuit against Sting and his publishing company in September, claiming they were owed between $2 million and $10.75 million in unpaid royalties for classic songs like “Roxanne,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” and “Every Breath You Take.” Sting earns roughly $740,000 per year for the international No. 1 smash “Every Breath You Take” alone.

A preliminary hearing was held Wednesday (Jan. 14) in London’s High Court, though none of the Police attended. The hearing is expected to conclude today (Jan. 15), with a trial to follow.

Why Are Sting’s Bandmates Suing Him?

The dispute dates back to the Police’s early years, when the band initially agreed to pay each other 15 percent of royalties as an arranger’s fee. The agreement was formalized in 1981 then revised in 1997. Copeland Summers are now asserting that these earlier agreements should be reinterpreted in an era when the sale of physical records has been largely replaced by streaming.

Copeland and Stewart say they’re owed arranger’s fees from the “digital exploitation” of the Police’s back catalog. Sting counters that a subsequent 2016 agreement only pays royalties “from the manufacture of records” – not streaming. His lawyers describe streamed songs as a “public performance” instead of a sale.

This lawsuit followed Sting’s blockbuster 2022 deal with the Universal Music Group, where he sold the publishing rights for his solo material and songs he wrote while with the Police. The package was said to be worth some $200 million.

READ MORE: Ranking Every Police Album

More recently, Sting and Andy Summers were featured on a new song for the first time in nearly two decades. They both appeared on jazz star Christian McBride’s cover of “Murder by Numbers,” originally a bonus track from 1983’s Synchronicity.

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