Diddy Actually Does Not Pay Sting $5,000 Per Day For Uncleared Song Sample
Diddy actually isn’t really keeping Sting’s bills paid. After the rapper said he paid the former Police frontman $5,000 in royalties per day for the sample of “Every Breath You Take” on 1997’s “I’ll Be Missing You,” Diddy turned around and insisted it was all just a joke.
“I want y’all to understand I was joking!” Diddy wrote on Twitter Friday, April 7. “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. He probably makes more than $5K a day from one of the biggest songs in history.”
“I’ll Be Missing You” was a tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. and became a hit for Diddy. However, the rapper only asked Sting’s permission for the sample after the song was released. Diddy and Sting have both addressed the situation previously, and in a 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club Sting said he receives $2,000 a day from Diddy.
When a clip of the interview resurfaced on Twitter this week and Diddy responded by writing, “Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting!”
There are, of course, no hard feelings between the two musicians. In the 2018 interview, Sting noted, “We’re very good friends now,” adding, “It was a beautiful version of that song.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2003, Sting confirmed that the uncleared sample has netted him a lot of money (and probably much more in the years since).
“Those guys just take your shit, put it on a record and deal with the legality later,” Sting said. “Elton John told me, ‘You gotta hear [“I’ll Be Missing You”], you’re gonna be a millionaire!’ I said, ‘I am a millionaire!’ He said, ‘You’re gonna be a millionaire twice over!’ I put a couple of my kids through college with the proceeds, and me and P. Diddy are good pals still.”
This story was updated April 7 at 3:34 p.m. ET after Diddy corrected the record and said he is not paying Sting $5,000 in royalties a day.
