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re: Fueds & Lawsuits Within Bands
Posted on 8/26/25 at 11:54 am to Mizz-SEC
Posted on 8/26/25 at 11:54 am to Mizz-SEC
this has been building for decades and just dropped today
Sting’s Former Bandmates From The Police Sue For Millions Of Dollars In ‘Missing’ Royalties
Sting’s former bandmates, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, are taking the rock musician to court.
Guitarist Summers and drummer Copeland – who, along with Sting, made up the band The Police – are suing Sting for millions of pounds in missing royalties.
The lawsuit was filed in London’s High Court. Officially listed under “general commercial contracts and arrangements,” the lawsuit names Sting, 73, and his company, Magnetic Publishing Limited, as the defendants.
Sting’s song “Every Breath You Take” reportedly earns him roughly £550,000 ($741,000) every year from royalties alone. The song was released in 1983 and is ranked as the fifth best-selling single of the 1980s. Credit for the track has been highly disputed over the decades, as Sting was given the sole songwriting credits, while Summers and Copeland were left without a direct claim to the publishing rights. A spokesperson for Sting has denied that the action was related to the song, but did not provide any further information.
I'm in the FUKC Sting corner, greedy prick owes Copeland and Summers royalties. He is the reason why The Police dis-banded.
Sting’s Former Bandmates From The Police Sue For Millions Of Dollars In ‘Missing’ Royalties
Sting’s former bandmates, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, are taking the rock musician to court.
Guitarist Summers and drummer Copeland – who, along with Sting, made up the band The Police – are suing Sting for millions of pounds in missing royalties.
The lawsuit was filed in London’s High Court. Officially listed under “general commercial contracts and arrangements,” the lawsuit names Sting, 73, and his company, Magnetic Publishing Limited, as the defendants.
Sting’s song “Every Breath You Take” reportedly earns him roughly £550,000 ($741,000) every year from royalties alone. The song was released in 1983 and is ranked as the fifth best-selling single of the 1980s. Credit for the track has been highly disputed over the decades, as Sting was given the sole songwriting credits, while Summers and Copeland were left without a direct claim to the publishing rights. A spokesperson for Sting has denied that the action was related to the song, but did not provide any further information.
I'm in the FUKC Sting corner, greedy prick owes Copeland and Summers royalties. He is the reason why The Police dis-banded.
4
Posted on 8/26/25 at 5:20 pm to Mizz-SEC
Jane's Addiction
They all sued each other recently over their last live performance.
They all sued each other recently over their last live performance.
Posted on 8/26/25 at 5:55 pm to Got Blaze
songwriting royalties disputes have torpedoed many a band. You’d think that issue would be easily avoided by sharing profits but apparently not
Posted on 8/26/25 at 10:46 pm to Mizz-SEC
CCR would have to be the worst
It was so bad between John and Tom that even after Tom was diagnosed with cancer, I don’t believe they spoke prior to Tom’s passing.
Hell, at one point his former record label sued John for trying to perform songs he wrote on his solo concerts. It went to court and an actual Judge ruled in favor of the label. John went years without being able to perform songs he wrote.
It was so bad between John and Tom that even after Tom was diagnosed with cancer, I don’t believe they spoke prior to Tom’s passing.
Hell, at one point his former record label sued John for trying to perform songs he wrote on his solo concerts. It went to court and an actual Judge ruled in favor of the label. John went years without being able to perform songs he wrote.
Posted on 8/26/25 at 10:52 pm to Got Blaze
quote:
I’m in the F Sting corner
There’s absolutely no way of knowing to what degree Copeland and Summer participated in the process. Based on his extensive catalog post Police, I feel like Sting was the driving force for material in that group
In addition, there are very few drum tracks I’ve ever felt warranted a writing credit.
This post was edited on 8/26/25 at 10:54 pm
Posted on 8/26/25 at 10:55 pm to geauxbrown
quote:AIDS
CCR would have to be the worst
It was so bad between John and Tom that even after Tom was diagnosed with cancer
quote:Per John, he visited Tom in the hospital at least once.
I don’t believe they spoke prior to Tom’s passing.
John claims the 1st thing Tom said to him from his deathbed was "Saul Zaentz* is my best friend."
*Owner of Fantasy Records, who buried John in lawsuits and refused to pay him royalties
Posted on 8/26/25 at 10:58 pm to Kafka
quote:
Kafka.
Wow!
Thanks for the clarification.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 12:27 am to Got Blaze
quote:
Sting’s song “Every Breath You Take” reportedly earns him roughly £550,000 ($741,000) every year from royalties alone. The song was released in 1983 and is ranked as the fifth best-selling single of the 1980s. Credit for the track has been highly disputed over the decades, as Sting was given the sole songwriting credits, while Summers and Copeland were left without a direct claim to the publishing rights. A spokesperson for Sting has denied that the action was related to the song, but did not provide any further information.
Andy Summers has complained a lot over the past 25 years that Sting makes a fortune "daily" from the P. Diddy sampling of the song, which is mostly distinguished by his guitar part, yet he gets nothing. Take out his guitar part and it would just be a routine bassline playing a routine chord sequence until the melody is sung in the chorus of the P Diddy song, so he deserves as much credit as Sting.
I actually very much agree with him on that... they didn't sample Sting's vocals, they did sample the guitar, bass and drum tracks.
And Summers and Copeland are both "pretty wealthy," by their own admissions, but Sting is "Mansions all around the world with personal chefs RICH." And he brags about a. lot of it being from that sample.
Song copyrights are antiquated. They are based solely on Vocal melodies and lyrics. Why? Because that was how the copyright protocol was set up back when sheet music for pianos became a business. In the US, it has never been updated to address recordings and the process with that...
Posted on 8/27/25 at 7:18 am to Lee B
quote:
I actually very much agree with him on that... they didn't sample Sting's vocals, they did sample the guitar, bass and drum tracks.
Sounds like Andy Summer needs to sue P. Diddy then.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 7:28 am to cgrand
quote:
You’d think that issue would be easily avoided by sharing profits but apparently not
They profit from record sales and all other royalties associated with the recordings. Sting wrote the songs, why should he share any part of that?
Posted on 8/27/25 at 7:33 am to Got Blaze
quote:
I'm in the FUKC Sting corner, greedy prick owes Copeland and Summers royalties. He is the reason why The Police dis-banded.
If Copeland and Summers want publishing royalties, they need to write songs.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 10:05 am to auggie
quote:Summers wrote the only part that was sampled.
Summers
Posted on 8/27/25 at 10:55 am to AlxTgr
Geoff Tate and Queensryche had plenty of litigation. At one point there were two versions of the band touring. The rest of the band owns the Queensryche name while Geoff Tate owns the rights to both of the Operation: Mindcrime albums.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 10:55 am to auggie
quote:because he was in a band? and the band contributed to the creation and arrangement of the songs? and without those other two guys he would not be receiving royalties on hit songs by the police? and its the right thing to do? and theres plenty of examples of how not doing so destroys bands/friendships/brotherhoods? and results in expensive lawsuits?
Sting wrote the songs, why should he share any part of that?
other than that, no reasons i can think of
Posted on 8/27/25 at 3:27 pm to AlxTgr
quote:
Summers wrote the only part that was sampled.
Then why wasn't he the one that sued P.Diddy? Too much trouble? Like writing great songs?
Posted on 8/27/25 at 3:40 pm to cgrand
quote:
because he was in a band? and the band contributed to the creation and arrangement of the songs? and without those other two guys he would not be receiving royalties on hit songs by the police? and its the right thing to do? and theres plenty of examples of how not doing so destroys bands/friendships/brotherhoods? and results in expensive lawsuits?
other than that, no reasons i can think of
What have those other guys accomplished on their own? Not much that I know of.
Those guys are rich because of Sting, not the other way around.
Sting would've made it just fine with any other drummer and guitar player. Hell, Sting is a great guitar player himself.
Copeland and Summers would make great communists. They feel entitled to all the fruits of someone else's work.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 3:44 pm to auggie
quote:No idea.
Then why wasn't he the one that sued P.Diddy? Too much trouble?
quote:So weak and so predictable.
Like writing great songs?
Posted on 8/27/25 at 3:50 pm to geauxbrown
quote:
In addition, there are very few drum tracks I’ve ever felt warranted a writing credit.
If there are, it would be The Police. Copeland's drums are what make a great many of those songs what they are.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 3:51 pm to AlxTgr
quote:
So weak and so predictable.
Yes, that's exactly what they are. They let someone else put forth all of the effort to accomplish things, then when that person is successful, scream that they are owed part of the rewards.
Like I said, they can always write songs on their own. Pen and paper are cheap enough.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 3:52 pm to auggie
quote:You must be mentally challenged.
Copeland and Summers would make great communists. They feel entitled to all the fruits of someone else's work.
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