Sean “Puffy” Combs confirmed he pays rock legend Sting $5,000 a day for sampling his 1983 hit single “Every Breath You Take” without permission.
The unauthorized sample was used in Combs’ 1997 hit “I’ll Be Missing You.”
The song, off Combs’ debut album No Way Out, was a tribute to Biggie Smalls who died in a drive-by shooting on March 09, 1997. “I’ll Be Missing You” was the first rap song to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
After the song topped charts worldwide in 1977, Sting, 71, sued Combs for copyright infringement and won more money than Combs could afford to pay in his lifetime.
The two artists agreed to a settlement of $5,000 a day ($1.8 million a year) for the rest of Combs’s natural life.
The debt to Sting will be paid in full when Combs dies.
Combs acknowledged his lifelong debt in response to a resurfaced clip from 2018 in which Sting said Combs pays him $2,000 a day.
Combs corrected the discrepancy, tweeting: “Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting!”
The amount has since increased to $5,000 a day due to interest and inflation.
The two men have nothing but love for each other despite the litigation that brought them together.
“We are very good friends now,” Sting said in the interview (watch below).
Combs’ producer previously said they intended to get permission from Sting to use the sample before the song was released, but the sample wasn’t cleared in time.
Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting! ? ???? https://t.co/sHdjd0UZEy
— LOVE (@Diddy) April 5, 2023
