Diddy confirmed last Friday what iHeartRadio.ca reported a day earlier – that he does not, in fact, pay Sting $5,000 a day for sampling “Every Breath You Take” in his 1997 track “I’ll Be Missing You.”
“I want y’all to understand I was joking!,” he tweeted. "It’s called being Facetious! Me and @OfficialSting have been friends for a long time! He never charged me $3K or $5K a day for Missing You.”
Last Thursday, under the headline "No, Diddy Doesn't Really Pay Sting $5K A Day For Song Sample," iHeartRadio.ca reported that “Diddy jokingly claimed he pays Sting $5,000 a day for sampling The Police’s hit 'Every Breath You Take' on the 1997 track 'I’ll Be Missing You.' Of course, it’s not true.”
As explained, Sting sold his entire music catalogue to Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) in early 2022 for a reported $300 million (all figures U.S.). Royalties for more than 600 songs – including “Every Breath You Take” – belong to UMPG.
The article also explained that the $5,000-a-day joke was in response to a years-old “$2,000-a-day” figure that was never really a thing.
The tall tale hit social media and quickly got picked up by media outlets around the world – many of which knew it was not true.