Sting has sold his entire songwriting catalog to Universal Music Group.
The acquisition includes hits like “Roxanne,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Message in a Bottle” and more of both his solo work and songs he wrote for The Police, Universal Music Publishing Group announced Thursday. The group already owns his recorded music catalog.
The deal, which is reported to be worth around $300 million, encompasses the copyrights to more than 600 songs, as well as future royalties on the catalog.
“I am delighted to have Jody and the team at UMPG curate and manage my song catalog,” Sting said in a news release, referring to Universal Music Publishing Group CEO Jody Gerson. “It is absolutely essential to me that my career’s body of work have a home where it is valued and respected — not only to connect with longtime fans in new ways but also to introduce my songs to new audiences, musicians and generations.”
Major music conglomerates are scrambling to purchase artists’ catalogs as streaming music becomes more common. In December, Sony acquired Bruce Springsteen’s songwriting catalog and recorded music copyrights for an estimated $550 million. Earlier last year, David Bowie’s estate sold his publishing catalog to Warner Chappell Music in a deal worth upward of $250 million.
Sting’s music continues to be a “cultural mainstay,” Universal Music Publishing Group said. In addition to his songs’ continuing to be commercially successful, Sting’s music has been sampled in multiple chart-toppers by stars like Nas, The Roots, 2Pac and French Montana.
“Shape of My Heart” was sampled in Juice WRLD’s “Lucid Dreams,” which has over 1.8 billion streams on Spotify alone.
“I could never have imagined that someday I would get to lead a company that will be the guardian of Sting’s remarkable songwriting legacy,” Gerson said in a statement. “Every one of us at UMPG looks forward to this work with a sense of honor, responsibility and enormous excitement about what we can achieve for his music in the future.”