It’s not fun getting older in rock and roll.
Now former members of The Police — Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers — are suing Sting for royalties they are not owed.
The men want money for Sting’s song, “Every Breath You Take,” saying they helped write it. It’s a late in life Hail Mary pass but unfortunately there’s no one to receive it.
The song was released in 1983. Can you count the number of decades ago that was? I can’t.
Sting wrote most of The Police songs, his name is on them. There are a couple of instances where Copeland and Summers are included. “Every Breath” is not one of them.
An insider (not Sting, LOL) tells me: “A negotiation has gone on forever. Sting has been very generous with Andy and Stewart. But he brought them the song. It was done.”
Indeed, “Every Breath” is propelled by Sting’s bass and vocals. It has signature style, which continued into his long solo career. While Summers and Copeland no doubt contributed to the recording, they didn’t write the song.
What’s happened over the years with The Police is similar to a lot of bands. One or two people wrote the songs and made the publishing money. The others earned money at the beginning from record sales. But now that the bands are older, there are no record sales. That shipped has “saled.”
Copeland and Summers have no case, and look bad for attempting this shakedown. Obviously, they’re bitter. Sting lives like a king, but he did actually compose the songs himself. He sold his catalog for $300 million, so he doesn’t even own “Every Breath” anymore. The distaff duo shouldn’t have waited so long if they were so intent on cashing in (although their lawsuit would never have worked).
You could almost call this The Garfunkel Law, or the Steven Tyler, or Henley and Frey. In the former, Paul Simon wrote the Simon & Garfunkel songs, Artie sang them so beautifully. But he didn’t get the copyright or credit. The painful truth is, the friendships could not outlast the money. (Ask Hall & Oates, for example.)
It’s too bad. Summers and Copeland are very nice guys. But this is likely to end in tears. Maybe next they’ll say they wrote “Driven to Tears.”)
