Verve Frontman Finally Gets Royalties From “Bittersweet Symphony”

22 years later, The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft is finally getting royalties for the band’s 1997 hit, “Bittersweet Symphony”.

The song famously uses a sample from an orchestral cover of the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time”. Ashcroft was sued over that sample in 1997, and had to surrender 100% of the songwriting royalties to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

But apparently Mick and Keith have had a change of heart and given those royalties back to Ashcroft. In a statement, Ashcroft called it “a kind and magnanimous gesture” and a “life affirming turn of events”.

Did Jagger and Richards do the right thing here, considering the sample wasn’t even from their original recording? Why do you think they had a change of heart 22 years later?