Details of Uspenskaya’s trial have become known due to her participation in the New Year’s light: “Where are my copyrights?”

The scandal surrounding the participation of Lyubov Uspenskaya in the New Year’s light continues to gain momentum. The author of the song “Polyushku” Natalya Lapina assures that she did not give any permission to the “queen of chanson” to perform the composition on New Year’s air. Lapina plans to send a pre-trial claim to the singer in the very near future, after which she intends to go to court. Natalya openly told the MK correspondent about how her relationship with Uspenskaya, for whom she wrote the main hit of recent years, deteriorated.

“Uspenskaya and I had disagreements almost immediately after the song became a hit,” says Natalya. — I have repeatedly asked Lyuba the question: “Why don’t I see royalties?” When I gave her the song, I said that I live solely on royalties.

— Did you immediately understand that “Pole Pole” would become a hit?

– Certainly. The history of the creation of this song is very interesting. I flew to Moscow from Los Angeles on a direct flight. Sitting next to me was Oleg Taktarov, an actor and world champion in martial arts. We have known him for many years, but it never occurred to me that he writes poetry. By the way, he has quite deep poetry… I suggested that he write something right on the plane, since the flight to Moscow took about 15 hours… And we started writing. I asked the flight attendant for a napkin and a pen and these lines were born: “I am made of rain, there is no place for me in a sunny city…” Then Oleg and I read poems to each other. And when I arrived home, I immediately wrote the melody for “Pole Pole”, as soon as I got to the piano. True, I tinkered with this song for a long time: improving the lyrics, creating a story in pictures. I really love text songs. It is always important for me to touch people’s hearts through poetry. I always listen to the lyrics in songs. And if it doesn’t touch me in any way, for me it’s not art. In general, I’ve been perfecting “Pole Pole” for quite some time. As it turned out, it was not in vain. It’s nice to see millions of people sing your song and write letters of gratitude, telling how the composition rhymes with their life, with the loss of a loved one.

— How did “Pole Pole” get to Uspenskaya?

— Initially, Ira Allegrova really liked the song. Ira immediately realized that this was a hit. I have always liked how Allegrova conveys the word to her listener. So I decided to give “Pole Pole” to her. We have already set a date for signing the contract. But then Uspenskaya appeared on the horizon. At that moment she had a difficult relationship with her daughter, who left for America, addicted to something she shouldn’t. Uspenskaya said that this song could reconcile her with Tanya. I believed her. I am a mother myself, I wanted Lyuba to have a good relationship with her daughter. Uspenskaya also assured that Allegrova would ruin the song. And she will fulfill it as needed. And it will pay well…

— Did you initially have a good relationship with Uspenskaya?

– Certainly. She invited me to her home, we thought about new hits. Then she made peace with Tanya. She suggested that I write songs for her too, because Lyuba decided to make a star out of her daughter. Everything changed when I asked: “Where are my copyrights?” After this, the “chanson star” and his director sent me to the blocks so as not to pay for my work. It was getting ridiculous. Once I was invited to Andrei Malakhov’s program, where I was supposed to talk about the history of the creation of “Pole Pole”. The director of Uspenskaya, seeing me in the corridor, demanded that I not be allowed into the studio. As a result, they signed me up after Ouspenskaya left. And she, meanwhile, continued to perform my hit everywhere and everywhere, even calling her tour “Along the Pole.” Naturally, I didn’t receive anything for this.

— Did you communicate with Uspenskaya after that?

– Yes, she called me with threats. But I told her that I wouldn’t talk in that tone. She gave more than two hundred concerts in which she performed my song. And I got nothing from this! You can imagine? There was no need to expect help from RAO either. Each author at RAO has an online catalog where all of his compositions are listed. The song “Along the Pole” constantly disappeared from my catalog (because of this, I did not receive royalties for concerts and broadcasts). I had to come to their office many times. I demanded royalties for my intellectual property. Uspenskaya performed “Along the Pole” really everywhere: at all major concerts and festivals. And also at all his solo concerts and corporate events.

— How did it happen that she doesn’t have the rights to the song?

— As I already said, I do not transfer my copyrights. This was discussed with Uspenskaya initially. Therefore, there are no existing copyright transfer agreements. She has only a non-exclusive performance right. That is why “Pole Pole” is now legally performed by other performers. For example, Akmal and Duet Roman, who pay for it. As for Uspenskaya, one day their driver brought me a piece of paper at three o’clock to the hotel, saying that I urgently needed to sign permission to release the song on Channel One in the “Three Chords” program. I signed this permission. By the way, that piece of paper contained her American passport with non-existent numbers. Lyuba also has a real US passport with valid numbers, but apparently, as I assume, there is some way to evade taxes in Russia and the USA. There is no legal contract with her existing passport. Uspenskaya, by the way, managed to take away another song from me, which I allegedly sold to her for three thousand rubles.

– How so?

“After I signed permission to shoot a song in “Three Chords,” two or three paragraphs appeared as if I had sold her another song for three thousand rubles. It was my author’s duet with the singing actor Alexander Ustyugov. He and I recorded an amazing song “Under the Drunken Sky,” which was regularly played on chanson radio stations. Lyuba apologized for this for a long time and gave a written receipt that I did not sell her the second hit for three thousand rubles. You know, I’m sorry that the far from poor Uspenskaya still does not pay the creator of her main hit of recent years. Because of this, several years ago I officially forbade her to perform “Pole Pole” and left RAO. I am very sorry that my work is not appreciated. Now I sing “Polyoleka” myself: many fans find my version more interesting.

Yes, such an attitude on Uspenskaya’s part breaks her wings. But I have a strong legal team that will soon bring pre-trial claims and lawsuits against all those who violate my copyrights. I wanted to bring this matter to an end two years ago, but then I had health problems. I underwent serious heart surgery. And now I don’t intend to retreat.