Sting has paid his former bandmates in The Police £600,000 since they started suing him over unpaid streaming royalties, London's High Court has been told.
The 74-year-old bassist, along with his company Magnetic Publishing, is said to owe more than $2 million (£1.49 million) in 'arranger's fees' to drummer Stewart Copeland, 73, and guitarist Andrew Summers, 83.
Their case hinges on the interpretation of various agreements made over who got what money between the band's formation in the late 1970s and 2016.
Mr Howe said Sting asserts that an arrangement where a songwriter would give 15 per cent of publishing income to the other two musicians as arranger's fees do not apply to streaming, which is contested by the other bandmates.
The barrister also said that since the legal action began in late 2024, Sting has paid more than $800,000 (£595,000) in 'certain admitted historic underpayments'.
Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, is disputing the wider legal claim, arguing that the arranger's fees should only apply to physical products such as vinyl and cassettes.
The star is believed to earn £550,000 a year in royalties from smash hit Every Breath You Take alone, the fifth best-selling song of the 1980s.
Bandmates Mr Summers and Mr Copeland, however, were not handed songwriting credits on the single.
In written submissions for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Robert Howe KC, for Sting, said the musicians cannot agree on how the phrases 'mechanical income' and 'public performance fees' apply to streaming, which continues to generate significant income.
Mr Howe said the court should pay most attention to a 'professionally drafted' agreement in 2016, which he said states the money is owed only on mechanical income 'from the manufacture of records'.
Ian Mill KC, for Mr Copeland and Mr Summers, as well as their companies Megalo Music, Kent Foundation Laboratories and Kinetic Kollections, said the agreements date back to 1977.
He said the 15 per cent figure was agreed between the band then, which was later formalised in written contracts.
In written submissions, the barrister said the issue for the upcoming trial is 'whether the parties have accounted to each other for arranger's fees correctly in accordance with the terms of the 2016 settlement agreement'.
In previous court documents filed in December 2024, Mr Mill said Sting's former bandmates are owed more than $2 million (£1.49 million) because arranger's fees had not been paid from money generated through streaming.
He also said Mr Copeland and Mr Summers understand the 2016 agreement means they are entitled to a share of money 'from all publishing income derived from all manner of commercial exploitation'.
The hearing, before Mr Justice Bright, is due to conclude on Thursday, with the trial expected at a later date.
New wave band The Police were formed in London in 1977 and shot to stardom with their second album Reggatta de Blanc, the first of four albums on the spin to reach the top of the charts.
They bagged five UK number one singles and achieved a number one in the US with Every Breath You Take.
Their last tour ended in 1984, but there was no farewell to each other or to their fans.
Copeland founded the band in 1977, joining up with Sting when he saw his charisma with the jazz fusion band Last Exit. They then approached agile rock guitarist Summers.
But immediately there was understood to be a three-way power struggle. Sting said previously: 'We didn't go to school together or grow up in the same neighbourhood. We were never a tribe.'
'We care passionately about the music and we're all strong characters and nobody would be pushed around. We fought over everything.'
The band unravelled and dissolved in resentment and anger and Sting went on to become a solo artist.
After threatening to break up every other week, their personal gripes were by no means kept behind closed doors. The band members went public with their problems with back-handed jokes in the studio and even during interviews.
The recording of Synchronicity - their fifth and final studio album - was fractious, with in-fighting leading to them recording parts in different rooms.
However, The Police surprisingly returned with a Reunion Tour taking place between 2007 and 2008, and over its 151 dates saw the band travel the world from Europe to South America.
The Reunion saw the band earn a reported £292million, with guitarist Summers telling The Telegraph in 2022 he earned $1million a night.
'The 2007 Reunion Tour was a giant pay-off for all of us and quite incredible: the most money I've ever made,' he said. 'We sold out every stadium in the world.'
'And I hate to say it - well no, I don’t hate to say it - I think I was the highest-paid guitarist in the world during that Reunion Tour.'