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Sean Combs pays Sting $5,000 a day for sampling "Every Breath You Take" without permission

Sean Diddy Combs arrives at the BET Awards 2022 held at Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live on June 26, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, United States
Sean Diddy Combs arrives at the BET Awards 2022 held at Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live on June 26, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, United States
Image Press Agency

In 1997, Sean Combs and Faith Evans released the song "I'll Be Missing You," as a tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G.  In the song, Combs famously sampled The Police's 1983 hit "Every Breath You Take."

The thing is, Combs never explicitly got permission from the band to use their song, and he's been paying for it ever since.


And we mean that literally.

Combs recently revealed that he pays Sting, who initially wrote the song, $5,000 a DAY for sampling it without permission.

Per the New York Times, last year, Sting sold his entire songwriting catalogue to Universal Music in an estimated $300 million deal.

Additionally, in 2019, licensing agency BMI said that "Every Breath You Take" was the most-performed song in its ENTIRE 14 million-song catalogue.