March 26 Adam Konkol published on his website Tears a statement in which he confirmed that all his songs written for the band had disappeared from streaming services. You can only find the CD online “Okay, okay” from 2023, which was released on the artist's label.
“I declare that due to the rejection by my former colleagues of the proposal to 'split' between the conflicting channels on Spotify, etc., all songs of the band Łzy in a way (my compositions and lyrics on my channel, their compositions on their channel, honestly, as is real, not 'as it is in ZAIKS'), my lawyers were forced to send a letter to temporarily suspend the distribution of these songs. Unfortunately, the former musicians' decision meant that thousands of fans were deprived of the opportunity to listen to the band's old recordings. My offer to my former colleagues is still valid and if they sincerely care about the band's fans and the band's achievements, I invite them to talk. Fortunately, the songs were not permanently deleted” – wrote Konkol.
The musician additionally attacked his former colleagues, claiming that they had previously caused his song to be removed from the Internet “Agnieszka 2.0”.
“I would like to remind you that they removed my 'Agnieszka 2.0', which achieved huge success and will soon reach the status of a Gold Record, not to mention the album 'OK, ok', whose good sales (TOP 20 best-selling albums in Empik) made them force the company Warner Music to withdraw it from all stores nationwide” – we read.
Two days later Adam Konkol got an answer. Sara Chmiel and bandmates Łzy issued their own statement on the matter.
“Referring to the statement issued by Adam Konkol, we explain that the catalogs of songs by the band Łzy were almost completely removed from streaming at the express request of Adam Konkol to the distributor, thus depriving fans of the opportunity to listen to the original versions of these songs” – we read.
“There is no fault of our own here. All the band's songs were still available until Adam Konkol intervened” – added.
The group noted that the other side's proposal was unacceptable. The musicians called it an ultimatum.
“Adam Konkol gave us an ultimatum, which stated that we would either agree to have the requested songs on accounts belonging to Adam Konkol's band, or he would stop the distribution of these songs, making them no longer available in the public domain at all. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about any proposal here, but rather it should be considered an attempt to force us to make the decision that Adam Konkol is counting on.” – commented and accused the musician of shifting responsibility to the other party.
“We declare that we are ready to enter into talks as long as we receive any reasonable proposals to resolve the matter. So far, Adam Konkol is trying to deprive us of our rights at all costs, regardless of the fact that in this way he is destroying the achievements that we have worked together for so many years.” – we read.
At the very end, the musicians commented on the situation with the song “Agnieszka 2.0.”
“We explain that the distribution of 'Agnieszka 2.0' was suspended because the song was a plagiarism of the song “Agnieszka has been here for a long time…” (which was confirmed by an expert from SA ZAIKS), therefore it violated our copyrights held by us as the other co-authors of this work, as a result of which we took appropriate actions to protect our rights. We would like to point out that publicly disseminating information that “we forced Warner Music Poland sp. z o. o. to do anything” may be considered defamatory. Warner Music Poland recognized our claims regarding the song Agnieszka 2.0, sharing our argumentation” – summarized.
Let us recall that the conflict is on the line Adam Konkol – the rest of the group Tears began in the spring of 2021, when the musician did not appear at one of the planned concerts.
“We were slightly concerned, and the real horror came when the manager called him and it turned out that… he was at home. He said that he had thought about everything and didn't want to play this concert and that he wouldn't play with us anymore” – she recalled Sara Chmiel. “I had a stroke. I ended up in hospital. I was there for three days and no one from the team was interested in me” – Konkol said in turn.
“We didn't close the case, we didn't want to look for anyone new to join the team. My bandmates decided to meet Adam after a few days and discuss the matter calmly. He then told them that he was definitely leaving the group, gave us a free hand as to its future, and even directly suggested that our former colleague should take his place.” – Chmiel continued in an interview for WP. The group rebuilt its lineup and returned to touring.
Konkol remembers the whole situation differently: “Indeed, Arek called me after a week. Yes, I told him that for health reasons I won't be able to play concerts in the upcoming season. But I certainly didn't declare that I was leaving the band. After all, I was the one who put it on, and Arek stabbed me in the back in my absence.”.
It has come to the point that there are two Łzy teams operating on the market. Both are fighting in the Patent Office for the right to this name.
A new singer now sings alongside Konkol Paulina Titkin. The 25-year-old lives in Warsaw, where she is a teacher and teaches preschool children. She has been associated with the stage practically since childhood. She took her first steps on stages in the city she comes from, Kielce. In her hometown they called her “Kielce Wyszkoni'' due to the similarity of her voice to the first singer of Łez.
They also currently perform in the band Szymon Bloch (guitar), Piotr Malinowski (bass guitar) i Jakub Kaczyński (drums). The new lineup debuted with the song “Agnieszka 2.0 It was a frosty winter”which is the sequel to the great hit “Agnieszka for a long time” from the album “Due to loneliness” from 2000.