Diddy admits he still pays Sting eye-watering sum each day for sampling hit song

07 April 2023 , 18:20

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Diddy claims he pays Sting $5,000 a day for sampling his hit (Image: Getty Images for NARAS)

Rapper Diddy has revealed he still pays Sting $5,000 a day for sampling The Police's song Every Breath You Take without permission back in 1997.

Diddy used a sample of the 1983 Grammy award-winning song on his tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. with Faith Evans, I'll Be Missing You.

His song spent 11 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 but he used the sample without permission from Sting, 71, who wrote the original song.

Sting confirmed Diddy did not seek his permission back in 2018 and revealed the rapper has to pay him $2,000 per day for the "rest of his life."

Sting wrote the hit Every Breath You Take (AFP via Getty Images)

Diddy sampled the Police song without permission (Getty Images for CIROC)

Yet Diddy has now contested the figure mentioned in Sting's Breakfast Club interview.

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As the interview footage resurfaced on Twitter, Diddy took the time to correct Sting's figure by commenting: ""Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting!"

The total figure Diddy has already paid the legendary rocker is unclear, but back in 2003 Sting admitted he would have enough money to put some of his six children through college.

"Those guys just take your shit, put it on a record and deal with the legality later," he told Rolling Stone.

"Elton John told me, 'You gotta hear ["I'll Be Missing You'"], you're gonna be a millionaire,'" he added.

"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."

Diddy claims he pays sting $5,000 a day for using the song (Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

The Mirror revealed Sting's pop music company Steerpike made £184,000 a day in profits in 2021, with £67.2million in pre-tax profits on turnover of £82.9m.

The huge profits appears to be that the accounts included income from the sale of Sting’s back-catalogue of hits, which was reported as having been sold to Universal.

The sale included hits Every Breath You Take, Roxanne and Fields of Gold.

Sting’s Every Breath You Take from 1983 is said to be one of the top 10 most profitable songs of all time in terms of royalties.

The Mirror has contacted Sting's representatives for comment.

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