Sting is one of the richest musicians in the UK with a massive net worth of $550 million. Suffice to say that the English musician never has to work a day in his life, with all the money he's accumulated throughout his career.
His money is a combination of his career earnings with The Police, earnings as a solo artist, some royalties, tour earnings, etc. With the enormous amount of money he's been getting, Puff Daddy's mistake added more money to his bank by paying almost a million royalty payments each year.
A Mistake Cost P. Diddy $2,000 A Day For Life
When Notorious B.I.G. died, Puff Daddy wanted to give tribute to the slain rapper through a song. Puff Daddy used a sample of The Police's Every Breath You Take for the tribute song.
Notorious B.I.G.'s widow Faith Evans was the one who sang the song, and it also featured R&B group 112. I’ll Be Missing You used the melody of Every Breath You Take and even included the guitar parts of Andy Summers.
The rapper who had a feud with J.Cole should have notified Sting and the band to ask their permission for the sample, but he failed to do so.
If he had just asked permission, he would have to pay out about 25% of the publishing royalties to Sting. But his failure to ask for permission costs him so much more than the 25% payment.
The tribute song sold over 7 million copies and even won a Grammy Award for the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group category. I’ll Be Missing You spent 11 weeks at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well. It was indeed a massive success as it also reached No.1 in more than 15 countries and went on to become one of the biggest hits of 1997.
With the popularity of the song, it's no surprise that Puff Daddy lost out on a massive payday.
It was revealed that Sting reportedly earns about $2,000 a day or $730,000 a year from the tribute song alone.
Andy Summers Missed Out On The Whole Deal
Since Sting was the composer of the song Every Breath You Take, he was the one who got all the credits and royalties from the song. But one person who missed out on this massive payday was The Police's guitarist Andy Summers.
Sting might have been the one who composed the song, but Summers was the only one heard on the sample used by Puff Daddy.
Summers created the defining guitar part during the recording of the sample, and he wasn't happy on missing out. Summers detailed on his Ultimate Classic Rock interview about what they did when they found out the song was ripped off.
He said, “We went from there and called the manager. I think we ended up settling out of court, and we got some kind of royalty. "
He also mentioned that the tribute song for the legendary Notorious B.I.G. sold over 30 million singles, but they never got a dime from it. He continued, "But I mean, I think he sold 30 million singles with that track or something, and we didn’t get anything out of it.”
He continued, “Sting’s making out like a bank robber here, while Andy and I have gone unrewarded and unloved for our efforts and contributions.”
How Did The Group Found Out About The Ripoff?
Although he was left out, Summers was the one who discovered Puff Daddy's tribute song. It was Summers' kid who first heard I'll Be Missing You and told his dad about it.
Summers recalled, "It was one of those funny things. My 10-year-old came in the house and came over. He goes, ‘Hey Dad, I want you to come listen to my radio in the room. "
Summers still vividly remembers hearing Puff Daddy's song for the first time and his son went to tell him about his guitar thing, he said, “There’s a guy who is completely doing your guitar thing.’ I went in, and it was the first time I’d heard the song the rapper who g and whatever he called that song. I went, ‘Oh my God.’”
Summers added “I went into his room and listened to his radio, and I was like, ‘This is me, what the f*** is this?'”
