Stewart Copeland is pushing back against the idea that the Police’s ongoing royalties dispute has poisoned his relationship with Sting. In a new interview with Billboard, the drummer said the legal fight is being handled by lawyers and accountants, not by the band’s surviving creative partners.
“We’re not (in court),” Copeland said. “The bean counters are, somewhere over in London. For me it’s, ‘Lemme know how it works out…’”
Copeland went further, insisting that the tension in the lawsuit has not stopped him and Sting from having a normal, friendly relationship. He said they still talk about “kids, Instagram memes, bullshit,” and added that he is “happy that we get along just fine.” Copeland also rejected the idea that the dispute comes from personal bitterness, saying it is “not because of satanic impulses or any of the human infirmities of jealousy, greed, pride, whatever.”
That response matters because the legal battle has been framed as a serious one. Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers filed suit against Sting, whose legal name is Gordon Sumner, over claims tied to the Police’s 1983 hit “Every Breath You Take.” Reports have said the pair allege they were not properly credited for their contributions and that they are owed millions in unpaid royalties. The suit was filed in London’s High Court, with Sting and his company Magnetic Publishing listed as defendants.
“Every Breath You Take” is not just any Police song. It was the band’s biggest hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and becoming the best-selling U.S. single of 1983. It also remains one of the most lucrative songs in Sting’s catalog, which is part of why the royalty fight has stayed so contentious.
Even so, Copeland is drawing a sharp line between business and friendship. He said the two musicians’ bond survived because the Police’s creative relationship had its own limits and purpose. In Far Out’s account of the interview, Copeland explained that their conflict is not about hatred, but about a chapter in which their “music universes overlapped” and they “created some incredible stuff.”
The comments also fit Copeland’s long-running habit of downplaying the mythology of Police-era bad blood. Years ago, he dismissed the idea that the band simply could not stand each other, calling that notion a “huge myth” and saying the friction was mostly creative. That history makes his latest remarks feel less like damage control and more like an attempt to separate the courtroom from the people involved in it.
For now, the lawsuit continues, but Copeland’s message is clear: the band’s business dispute is serious, yet his personal relationship with Sting is still intact. Or, as he put it, they get along “just fine.”
