Sting Tells Fans About Police Royalty Payments

Sting recently shared his opinion on being covered or sampled by younger artists.

Sting opens up on the matter

When one has put in as many years on stage performing before thousands as Sting has, it is bound that they would hear songs inspired by your material. Sometimes, the influence will be subtle, heard by connoisseurs or the particularly observant. In other cases, the musicians will outright cover or sample your songs, trying to pay homage to your body of work while giving themselves a boost through a familiar name and sound.

In an interview with the LA Times, Sting was asked his opinion on why his music remains fresh, drawing younger musicians to remake or cover his songs and new fans to appear seemingly from nowhere. The musician kept a blasé attitude, stating he was fine with anyone who wanted to use his material:

“I have no idea, but when somebody wants to interpolate or whatever it’s called, I never object because I always learn something about the song that I hadn’t known or anticipated. And I get paid, so why not?”

Sting continued, noting that songs remain fresh longer when covered by other artists:

“It keeps them current. Songs are living organisms — you have to keep breathing life into them or giving them new bedfellows.”