The millionaire debt P. Diddy owes Sting for using ‘Every Breath You Take’ without permission

Sampling classics is an art that has been practiced since the 1950s. It became particularly fashionable in the 1970s with the birth of hip hop and, thanks to this, “sampling” is still present in our lives through songs and artists as popular as Rosalía. , Karol G or C.Tangana.

However, we sometimes forget that when it comes to reusing a certain type of musical base, copyright comes into play. And that is precisely what happened to P Diddy when in the late 90s he released I’ll miss youa hit largely inspired by another great success: Every Breath You Take of The police.

The British band released said song in May 1983 and, more than a decade later, the rapper – with Faith Evans and R&B 112 – used, without permission, one of the song’s most recognizable fragments to pay his special tribute to the Notorious BIGmurdered in March 1997 in Los Angeles at the age of 24.

Despite his laudable motives, Sting sued him for violation of Copyright. A lawsuit for which he emerged victorious and pocketed 100% of the profits reported by the song. Earnings which, thanks to a video recently saved by P Diddy himself, would amount to $5,000 a day for life.

The video that went viral dates from 2018, in which Sting acknowledges in an interview with The breakfast club that indeed, “Diddy was forced to pay him $2,000 a day for sampling Every Breath You Take without permission.” “For the rest of his life”, adds the singer, where he also adds that he asked permission after publishing his song, that it is “a beautiful version of his song” and that they are “very good friends now”.

“It was a joke”

However, the American once again took to his social networks to indicate that he was not speaking seriously. “I want you to understand that I was joking! Sting and I have been friends for a very long time. He never charged me $3,000 or $5,000 a day for Missing You. He probably makes more money from one of his great songs in history,” he posted on his Twitter profile.

In the same way, The singer of The Police did not comment on the case. But what he revealed in an interview with The rolling stones is that he had paid for his children’s college with the exorbitant amount of money he got from the sample deal. “These guys just take your shit, put it on a record and deal with the legalities later. (…) Elton John said to me, ‘You have to listen to it! (I’ll miss you), you are going to be a millionaire!’. I told him: ‘I am a millionaire!’ And he said, ‘You’re going to be a millionaire twice!’ I sent a few of my kids off to college with the winnings, and P. Diddy and I are still good friends.”