Consumers may find themselves unable to play many of their favorite songs on video streaming services until YouTube and performing rights organization SESAC reach an agreement on terms to renew their expiring contract.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, some (but not all) songs by artists such as Adele, Mariah Carey, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Kendrick Lamar, Nirvana, and REM became unavailable on YouTube over the weekend. It is said that
As of Sunday night (September 29), Billboard reported that hits such as Adele’s “Hello” and “Someone Like You” and REM’s “Losing My Religion” remained unplayable on YouTube. This is just one example of the music videos that are available. The licensing agreement with SESAC remains unresolved. When the page loads, an error message appears instead of the music video preview. The message “Video is unavailable.” appears. This video contains content from SESAC. Not available in your country. โ
In a statement to Billboard, a YouTube spokesperson wrote: “We have been negotiating in good faith with SESAC to renew our existing contract. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach a fair agreement before it expired. Because we take copyright very seriously, content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the United States. We are in active discussions with SESAC and hope to reach a new agreement as soon as possible. I hope.โ
Billboard contacted SESAC but did not receive a response Sunday.
SESAC licenses performances of more than 1.5 million songs and collects royalties and helps protect copyrights on behalf of thousands of songwriters and publishers in the United States.
As THR points out, YouTube customer service has been addressing user complaints with responses on X (formerly Twitter). In response to the complaint, the TeamYouTube account posted the following message: “Despite our best efforts, our music licensing agreement with SESAC has expired without agreement on renewal terms. Therefore, in accordance with copyright law, SESAC We have blocked content on YouTube in the United States that is known to be related toโฆ We understand this is a difficult situation and our team continues to work to reach a renewal agreement. Iโm here.โ