Diddy says he pays Sting $5,000 daily for "Every Breath You Take" sample
Sean "Diddy" Combs sampled The Police song "Every Breath You Take" on 1997's "I’ll Be Missing You," and he's still paying for it
Even 25 years later, Sean “Diddy” Combs says he’s still paying Sting for sampling “Every Breath You Take” on his hit “I’ll Be Missing You.” The rapper confirms the daily royalty payment to the former Police frontman totals around $5,000.
In a resurfaced interview from 2018, Sting claims he earns $2k a day from “I’ll Be Missing You,” which Diddy will be paying “for the rest of his life.” Diddy took a moment on Twitter to clarify that it’s actually closer to $5k per day.
Diddy paying Sting $5,000 a day means the 1997 chart-topper is still raking in cash for the rapper. Back in his Puff Daddy days, Diddy recorded “I’ll Be Missing You” with Faith Evans and R&B group 112 as a tribute to his friend and collaborator, Notorious B.I.G., who was shot to death two months prior. The song ended up number one on the U.S. charts longer than The Police’s original.
The song was originally released without crediting songwriter Sting, who swiftly sued, resolving the matter. Per the interview with Sting, the daily payment was enacted after the lawsuit, and the frontman was able to earn 100 percent of the royalties instead of the standard 25 percent or less. In a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone, Sting said Diddy’s hit has earned him a lot of money over the years (in addition to the original song itself, we’re sure).
“Those guys just take your shit, put it on a record and deal with the legality later,” Sting said at the time. “Elton John told me, ‘You gotta hear [“I’ll Be Missing You”], you’re gonna be a millionaire!’ I said, ‘I am a millionaire!’ He said, ‘You’re gonna be a millionaire twice over!’ I put a couple of my kids through college with the proceeds, and me and P. Diddy are good pals still.”
Of course, this does not mean Diddy is writing $5,000 checks to Sting every single day, but the amount is automatically plucked from the song’s daily earnings. As Universal Music Publishing owns the rights to “Every Breath You Take,” in addition to several other hits from the Police catalog, it now takes a large percentage of the total.