How rocker Sting nets millions in royalties every day
Sting earns millions in royalties every day, making him a formidable contender for the title of ‘smartest man in music’.
The 72-year-old former frontman of The Police – whose real name is Gordon Sumner – has an estimated net worth of $550million (£410million).
In 2015, The Police’s 1983 hit Every Breath You Take was released The richest as the eighth highest-grossing song of all time and reportedly earned Sting millions in its own right.
The earworm has grossed more than $20.5 million in royalties since its release in the ’80s, and the singer reportedly earns around $730,000 annually from it.
But the song’s worldwide success is partly due to another famous song: I’ll Be Missing You, a 1997 hit by Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Sting’s solo career has consistently earned him millions – although he may have had some help from fellow musicians who illegally ‘borrowed’ his work
The disgraced rapper made a major reboot of the song with Faith Evans as a tribute to his late friend and rapper Notorious BIG, which only increased the popularity of the track.
The song sold seven million records worldwide, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for 11 weeks and won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
However, Combs made a mistake by not having the sample verified beforehand, leading to a costly legal settlement with Sting.
In a 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club, the rocker revealed that he receives $2,000 a day — $730,000 a year — from Diddy for use of the song, a fee Combs will reportedly continue to pay for the rest of his life.
But that’s nothing compared to the estate of rapper Juice WRLD, who pocketed 85 percent of the royalties from another unauthorized Sting sample.
Juice WRLD, who tragically passed away in 2019 at the age of 21, sampled the rock legend’s 1993 hit Shape of My Heart for his 2018 song Lucid Dreams.
Lucid Dreams became a huge success, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Since then, the song has been streamed over 2.6 billion times on Spotify, making it one of the most-streamed songs on the platform.
Later that year, however, Juice WRLD’s producer Nick Mira criticized Sting in a tweet that has since been deleted.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs (R) made a mistake by not erasing a sample of Every Breath You Take ahead of time, leading to a costly legal settlement with Sting (L)
Juice WRLD – who tragically passed away in 2019 at the age of 21 – sampled the rock legend’s 1993 hit, Shape of My Heart, for his 2018 song Lucid Dreams
He wrote: ‘F*** @OfficialSting and his ENTIRE team. After taking 85% of Lucid Dreams (for interpolating Shape of My Heart, NOT EVEN sampling it) he threatened to take us to court for trying to get even a %.’
A day after Nick’s tweet, Juice WRLD — real name Jarad Anthony Higgins — responded by writing that he was pleased with the song’s impact and that there were more opportunities to make money elsewhere.
He wrote: ‘Millions lost, millions made… the song has made such an impression on so many people, I’m angry about it. There’s always more money to be made and I’m going to make it happen.’
After his death in 2019, Juice WRLD continued to earn a cool $15 million, placing him 7th on Forbes’ list of highest-paid dead celebrities.
The continued popularity of the rapper’s posthumous effort, Legends Never Die, has seen it streamed billions of times as of October 2022. Sting reportedly earns $43,000 a day from streams alone, which equates to $15 million a year.
With the continued popularity of the rapper’s posthumous works, Legends Never Die – which has resulted in billions of streams as of October 2022 – Sting is reportedly making $43,000 per day from streams alone – or $15 million per year
Juice WRLD wrote after the dispute that he was pleased with the impact the song had had and stated that there were more opportunities to make money elsewhere
Despite the legal dispute between the artists, Sting later spoke with Billboard about the song, calling it a “beautiful interpretation that stays true to the form of the original song.”
He also said the song’s success allowed “my grandchildren to go to college.”
Sting sold his previous hits to Universal Music Publishing Group in 2022 for $300 million (£221 million).
The catalogue included songs from his time with The Police, as well as music from his solo career, which undoubtedly contributes to the millions in royalties he now receives.
Meanwhile, Sting announced an upcoming collaboration with hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg when he appeared on BBC Radio 2’s The Park stage in Preston, Lancashire, earlier this month.