The legendary British rock trio The Police are back in the headlines, but not for a reunion tour. This week, the High Court in London became the latest battleground in the band's long-running saga, as former members Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers sued frontman Sting over royalties linked to their iconic 1983 hit, 'Every Breath You Take'.
The Core of the Legal Dispute
The lawsuit centres on an estimated $2 million (£1.5 million) in publishing royalties, particularly from modern streaming earnings. Copeland and Summers allege that Sting owes them a share of this revenue. Sting's legal team counter that previous royalty agreements, dating back to 1977, do not include income from streaming services. They have even suggested in pre-trial documents that the pair may have been "substantially overpaid" in the past.
On the hearing's opening day, a twist emerged. It was revealed that Sting has already paid his former bandmates $870,000 (£647,000) to address what his lawyer termed "certain admitted historic underpayments." However, the future pipeline of earnings from the perennially popular song remains a major point of contention.
A Song That Refuses to Fade
This is no dispute over a forgotten B-side. 'Every Breath You Take' remains a colossal force in global music. At the time of the hearings, it sits in the Top 10 most-streamed songs daily worldwide on Spotify, garnering around 3.5 million plays on that platform alone each day. To put that in perspective, its daily streams outpace recent hits by major artists like Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga.
Its streaming numbers surged by 89% in 2024 and grew another 36% last year, with key markets in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, and the UK. This resurgence is partly attributed to its featuring in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, though its popularity on platforms like TikTok extends far beyond the show.
The Sinister Heart of a Wedding Staple
The song's eternal success is steeped in irony and conflict. Sting originally intended to write a "romantic, kind of seductive" tune, acknowledging its chord sequence was likely inspired by Ben E. King's 'Stand By Me'. Yet, he infused it with what he called "a compulsion behind it, to the point of obsession, where it becomes kind of sinister."
The result is a masterclass in lyrical duality: tender promises of eternal love that are, in fact, the words of a possessive stalker. Sting himself later labelled it "a nasty little song, really rather evil" and felt compelled to write his solo single 'If You Love Someone Set Them Free' as an antidote.
Recording Sessions Riddled with Rifts
The making of the song for the 1983 album 'Synchronicity' was famously fraught. Producer Hugh Padgham recalled, "By the time of Synchronicity, they were sick of each other. Sting and Stewart hated each other." The tension boiled over during the recording of 'Every Breath You Take'.
Drummer Stewart Copeland chafed against the song's restrictive, straight rhythm. "Stewart would say, 'I want to fucking put my drum part on it!' and Sting would say, 'I don't want you to put your fucking drum part on it!'" Padgham remembered. Meanwhile, guitarist Andy Summers has claimed he rescued the song, stating "It was crap until I played on it," and crediting himself with the iconic arpeggiated guitar riff in a single take.
The animosity spilled onto the road during the subsequent tour, where a physical altercation resulted in Copeland breaking one of Sting's ribs. The band split at the peak of their fame, their legacy cemented as one of rock's most fractious groups.
From In-Joke to High Court
In recent years, the bandmates had maintained a publicly cordial, if teasing, relationship. Copeland noted in 2024 that their fighting reputation was somewhat mythologised, saying they "got on really well on stage, in the van, on the plane." A running joke involved the 1997 Puff Daddy and Faith Evans hit 'I'll Be Missing You', which heavily interpolated Summers's guitar part from 'Every Breath You Take'.
"Me and Andy go, 'Go on Sting, pay Andy his royalties,'" Copeland said in 2018, "and Sting will say, 'OK Andy, here you are …' Not reaching anywhere near his wallet." That light-hearted ribbing has now evolved into a serious legal claim. With the song generating more revenue than ever, the decades-old tensions that forged it have resurfaced with a vengeance, proving that some breaths are still being taken very personally indeed.
