Sting pays Police bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland more than £500,000 in royalties | …

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Sting pays Police bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland more than £500,000 in royalties

Sting has paid his former bandmates in The Police more than half a million pounds after acknowledging underpaying royalties, court documents show.

In a filing at London's High Court, the musician's lawyers said Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland received a payment of "over $800,000" (£595,000) after they launched legal proceedings last year.

The pair sued Sting and his publishing company in September, claiming they were owed between $2m (£1.5m) and $10.75m (£8m) in royalties for hit songs like Roxanne and Every Breath You Take. At a hearing on Wednesday, their lawyers said their claim could rise above £8m.

Sting denies that they are entitled to a portion of his income from streaming and download sales.

‘A nasty little song, really rather evil’: how Every Breath You Take tore Sting and the Police apart

Sting and his former bandmates go to the high court over a royalties dispute this week – the latest chapter in the song’s remarkably fractious story

This week’s high court hearings between Sting and his former bandmates in the Police, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, are the latest chapter in the life of a song whose negative energy seems to have seeped out into real life.

Every Breath You Take is the subject of a lawsuit filed by Copeland and Summers against Sting, alleging that he owes them royalties linked to their contributions to the hugely popular song, particularly from streaming earnings, estimated at $2m (£1.5m) in total. Sting’s legal team have countered that previous agreements between him and his bandmates regarding their royalties from the song do not include streaming revenue – and argued in pre-trial documents that the pair may have been “substantially overpaid”. In the hearing’s opening day, it was revealed that since the lawsuit was filed, Sting has paid them $870,000 (£647,000) to redress what his lawyer called “certain admitted historic underpayments”. But there are still plenty of future potential earnings up for debate.

Iconic singer pays legendary band thousands in back royalties for epic ‘80s hit

Sting and “The Police” are in the midst of a legal battle in which the former lead singer for the legendary group has paid band members hundreds of thousands of dollars in back royalties.

Drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers filed a 2025 lawsuit, per The Guardian, against Sting, claiming he withheld streaming royalties from the mega-hit “Every Breath You Take.”

The BBC reports, citing court documents, Sting has paid both Copeland and Summer $870,000 each since the lawsuit was filed.

Lawyers for Copeland and Summer, however, have said the former bandmates could seek more than $8 million.

The basis of Copeland’s and Summer’s argument is the group agreed in 1977 to share certain publishing income. That, of course, was before the birth of downloads and streaming, which they now consider to be part of the deal.

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