Songs by Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Green Day and Mariah Carey, among others, are currently unavailable on YouTube due to a contract dispute between the platform and SESAC, an artists' rights organization.
A YouTube spokesperson shared a statement with The Hollywood journalist Saturday: “We have been conducting good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing agreement. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach a fair agreement before its deadline. We take copyright very seriously, and as a result, content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the United States. We are in active negotiations with SESAC and hope to reach a new agreement as soon as possible.”
Some songs by several artists received this message when trying to play: “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”
SESAC in the United States collects royalties and helps protect copyrights on behalf of songwriters and publishers. On the organization's website, it says: “SESAC currently licenses the public performance of more than 1.5 million songs on behalf of its more than 15,000 affiliated songwriters, composers and music publishers, which include household names such as Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, RUSH, Adele, Jack Harlow, Ariana Grande, Disclosure, Zac Brown, Rosanne Cash, Lady A's Hillary Scott, Lee Brice, Margo Price, Nicky Jam, Blanco Brown and many more.
Throughout Saturday, the TeamYouTube account on X (formerly Twitter) responded to platform users' frustrations with the situation. “Our music licensing agreement with SESAC expired without an agreement on renewal terms, despite our best efforts. therefore, we have blocked content on YouTube in the United States known to be associated with SESAC, in line with copyright law,” the message read.
THR also reached out to SESAC for comment.
A similar legal dispute between Universal Music Group and TikTok occurred for several months earlier this year before they finally reached a music licensing agreement. During that time, some artists' music was also unavailable on the social media platform.