Sting has paid more than £600,000 to his former Police bandmates Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers following the launch of legal action over unpaid streaming royalties, London’s High Court has heard.
The 74-year-old musician, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, transferred the money after Copeland and Summers initiated proceedings in late 2024. According to court filings, the payment exceeded $800,000 and was made to cover what Sting’s legal team described as “certain admitted historic underpayments”.
The case centres on long-running disagreements over so-called arranger’s fees and whether agreements made during the band’s early years apply to income generated by modern digital streaming platforms.
What the dispute is about
Copeland and Summers argue that they are entitled to a 15 percent share of publishing income under arrangements first agreed when The Police formed in 1977. They say those terms were later confirmed in written contracts and should apply to all forms of commercial exploitation, including streaming.
Sting disputes that interpretation. His legal team maintains that arranger’s fees were intended only for physical formats such as vinyl records and cassettes, not for digital streaming revenue that did not exist when the original agreements were made.
Robert Howe KC, representing Sting, told the court that judges should place primary weight on a professionally drafted settlement agreement signed in 2016. He said that document specifies payments linked solely to mechanical income arising from the manufacture of records.
“The central issue is how the terms ‘mechanical income’ and ‘public performance fees’ apply in the context of streaming,” Mr Howe said in written submissions.
Sting and his company, Magnetic Publishing, are accused of owing more than $2 million in total to Copeland and Summers.
Bandmates contest Sting’s interpretation
Ian Mill KC, acting for Copeland, Summers and their companies Megalo Music, Kent Foundation Laboratories and Kinetic Kollections, said the financial arrangements date back nearly five decades.
He told the court that the 15 percent arranger’s fee was agreed at the band’s formation and later formalised, arguing it covers all publishing income regardless of format.
In written submissions, Mr Mill said the key issue for trial will be:
“Whether the parties have accounted to each other for arranger’s fees correctly in accordance with the terms of the 2016 settlement agreement.”
Court documents filed in December 2024 claim that arranger’s fees were not paid on income generated through streaming services, despite streaming now accounting for a significant share of the band’s ongoing revenue.
A familiar story of Police tensions
The Police, formed in 1977, split in the mid-1980s after selling more than 75 million records worldwide. Internal tensions were well documented throughout their career, even as the band produced a run of global hits including Roxanne, Message in a Bottle and Every Breath You Take.
Every Breath You Take was the best-selling single of 1983 and the fifth best-selling single of the entire decade. Sting, who wrote the song, reportedly earns around £550,000 a year from it alone. Copeland and Summers were not credited as songwriters.
The preliminary High Court hearing is expected to conclude shortly, with a full trial scheduled for a later date.
