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There was a point in the early 1980s when the Police were so popular, it seemed every little thing they did was magic.
Four decades on, with a back catalogue of hits and millions of pounds worth of streaming royalties rolling in, the mood music has changed significantly.
A high court battle over unpaid royalties which has pitted Sting against his former bandmates could have significant implications for music industry in the streaming era.
Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, was the band’s singer, bassist and principal songwriter.
The high court in London has been told that Sting has paid more than £500,000 to his former bandmates, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, since they brought legal action over unpaid fees.
Sting, along with his company Magnetic Publishing, are said to owe more than $2m (£1.5m) in “arranger’s fees” to drummer Copeland and guitarist Summers.
The case hinges on the interpretation of various agreements made between the band’s formation in the late 1970s and 2016, in particular how the phrases “mechanical income” and “public performance fees” apply to streaming, which continues to generate significant income for the group.
Sting’s representative, Robert Howe KC, argued that an agreement where a songwriter would give 15% of publishing income to the other two musicians as arranger’s fees does not apply to streaming, a position which is contested by Copeland and Summers.
The barrister said that since the legal action began in late 2024, Sting has paid more than £595,000 in “certain admitted historic underpayments”.
Sting is disputing the wider legal claim, arguing that the arranger’s fees should only apply to physical products such as vinyl and cassettes.
It is a distinction that is vital in an era when the group’s biggest hit, Every Breath You Take has been streamed more than 3bn times on Spotify.
Howe said the court should pay most attention to a “professionally drafted” agreement in 2016, which he said states that the money is owed only on mechanical income “from the manufacture of records”.
The Police formed in 1977 and achieved a US No 1 single with Every Breath You Take, which appears on the band’s fifth and final album, Synchronicity. It was the bestselling US single of 1983, the fifth bestselling of the decade and was sampled on Puff Daddy and Faith Evans’ 1997 song I’ll Be Missing You.
The band also had chart success with Roxanne, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Can’t Stand Losing You and Don’t Stand So Close to Me before splitting in 1984.
In 2022, Sting sold his entire songwriting catalogue to Universal for an estimated £221m.
Ian Mill KC, for Copeland and Summers, as well as their companies Megalo Music, Kent Foundation Laboratories and Kinetic Kollections, said the agreements dated back to 1977. He said the 15% figure was agreed between the band then, which was later formalised in written contracts.
In written submissions, the barrister said the issue for the upcoming trial is “whether the parties have accounted to each other for arranger’s fees correctly in accordance with the terms of the 2016 settlement agreement”.
In previous court documents filed in December 2024, Mill said Sting’s former bandmates are owed more than $2m because arranger’s fees had not been paid from money generated through streaming.
He said Copeland and Summers understood the 2016 agreement meant they were entitled to a share of money “from all publishing income derived from all manner of commercial exploitation”.
The hearing is due to conclude on Thursday, with the trial expected at a later date.
On 16 February a verdict is expected in a similar case involving the estates of the Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist, Noel Redding, and its drummer, Mitch Mitchell.
The case revolves around performers’ rights, copyright and unpaid royalties from streaming revenues, for recordings including the band’s classic albums Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland.
