Diddy has confirmed that he is paying fellow artist Sting $5K a day to be allowed to continue to use a sample of Sting’s song “Every Breath You Take.” Diddy released “I’ll Be Missing You” in memory of the Notorious B.I.G in collaboration with Faith Evans and the R&B 112 in 1997, but he did not receive permission for the song, which became an instant hit and is now a classic.
In a resurfaced interview from the Breakfast Club, Sting revealed that Diddy had sampled the song without clearance, and as a result, he had to pay $2,000 a day. Many fans felt that the amount caused Diddy to be “dropping his bag,” but if that was shocking, imagine the figure being more as Diddy confirmed that it was, in fact, $5,000 a day.
Diddy retweeted the Breakfast Club interview where Shaggy and Diddy appeared on the radio station, and the song came up. “Is it true that Diddy has to pay you $2,000 a day because he didn’t have permission to sample “Every Breath You Take,” Charlamagne Tha God asked. “Yeah,” Sting says nonchalantly before adding, “For the rest of his life,” he said.
The artist answered, “Yes he did,” as he confirmed that Diddy did eventually seek permission after the song was released. “We’re very good friends now,” Sting added.
The calculation for the song is around $1.825 million per year at $5,000 per day. The clip went viral, and Diddy also commented on the actual figure on Twitter, noting it was more, but he doesn’t have any hard feelings towards his “brother” Sting.
“Love to my brother @OfficialSting!” Diddy wrote in the tweet with the cool emoji, black power, and heart hands emojis.
Diddy added in another tweet that he was being Facetious.
“I want y’all to understand I was joking! It’s called being Facetious,” Diddy wrote in an updated tweeted on Friday (April 7). “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 want y’all to understand I was joking! 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.
LOVE ?????????
— LOVE (@Diddy) April 7, 2023
Diddy’s song might not have had difficulty paying that amount as it went on to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 14, 1997, and was the top-selling track for 11 weeks while also staying on the Chart for a total of 33 weeks.
The song remains one of the greatest songs over the last two decades.
Diddy reportedly pays $2,000 a day to the artist Sting for sampling his hit song “I’ll be Missing you” dedicated to rapper Biggie Smalls without permission “We are very good friends now” pic.twitter.com/GDnYj1T4ZK
— Black Millionaires ® (@Blackmillions_) April 5, 2023
Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting! ? ???? https://t.co/sHdjd0UZEy
— LOVE (@Diddy) April 5, 2023
