Bitter Sweet end to royalty battle between The Verve and The Rolling Stones

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Richard Ashcroft will receive the royalties and rights Bitter Sweet Symphony following a 22 year copyright dispute with The Rolling Stones.

An orchestral version of The Rolling Stones' song The Last Time is sampled on the hit 1997 track.

The inclusion of the Stones' music sparked a plagiarism debate that has raged for two decades.

Rolling Stone magazine reports that The Verve had originally agreed to share half of Bitter Sweet Symphony royalties in exchange for using a small sample of The Last Time.

But Allen Klein, the former manager of The Rolling Stones sued The Verve, claiming they had used more of the song than they'd originally promised.

On Thursday, Richard Ashcroft said that he had been reassigned the royalties and rights.

After collecting the award for outstanding contribution to British Music at the Ivor Novello Awards, he said: "It gives me great pleasure to announce as of last month Mick Jagger and Keith Richards agreed to give me their share of the song Bitter Sweet Symphony.

"This remarkable and life affirming turn of events was made possible by a kind and magnanimous gesture from Mick and Keith, who have also agreed that they are happy for the writing credit to exclude their names and all their royalties derived from the song they will now pass to me."

He added: "A huge unreserved heartfelt thanks and respect to Mick and Keith. Music is power."