Overview
- The documentary will have its world premiere at London’s Raindance Film Festival on Friday June 19 and shows Stewart Copeland saying he felt “heartbroken” after The Police’s 2003 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction when Sting and Andy Summers walked off after three songs.
- Copeland and Summers filed a lawsuit last year claiming they are owed between about £1.5 million and £8 million in unpaid royalties and arranger’s fees for Police songs, and they say the figure could rise as interest and further underpayments are assessed.
- Reporting from earlier this year said Sting paid more than half a million pounds after the suit was filed while disputing that his streaming and download income should be shared with his former bandmates.
- The film uses Super‑8 archival footage and new interviews to reposition Copeland as a composer and multi‑discipline artist beyond his role as a drummer, and he declined to comment publicly on some details of the legal case.
- The dispute highlights a wider industry question about whether streaming and download receipts count as sales or public performances, which could change how arrangers and non‑credited contributors are paid and affect legacy splits for big catalog songs.