YouTube is blocking music videos from artists represented by SESAC

Due to a legal dispute, YouTube is currently not playing video content that’s associated with SESAC on its platform.

If you live in the United States and want to listen to songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Kendrick Lamar, Mariah Carey, Nirvana, R.E.M., Rihanna, or any other artist represented by SESAC via YouTube, you’re in bad luck.

Instead of playing the song, the video platform shows visitors the message “Video Unavailable. This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country”. Music lovers have been seeing this message since last Saturday.

No, it’s not a glitch or malfunction on YouTube’s end. Instead, it’s a deliberate move by the video platform as its deal with SESAC nears expiration.

A YouTube representative told Variety in a statement the following:

“We have held good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing deal. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement before its expiration. We take copyright very seriously, and as a result, content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the US. We are in active conversations with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible.”

SESAC is an organization that represents over 30,000 music artists, collects royalties, and helps protect copyrights on behalf of songwriters and music publishers in the United States.

Fans have noticed the block and are complaining on X, telling YouTube to ‘fix this.’

“We understand how important it is for you. We hope to be able to reach an agreement with SESAC and restore their content to the platform. However, we do not have an estimate for when that might occur,” YouTube steadily states on X.

SESAC has not yet responded to the YouTube dispute.

Something similar happened earlier this year between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok. While both parties were negotiating over royalties, songs by artists like Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and Taylor Swift were pulled from TikTok.

In a press release, UMG accused TikTok of building a “music-based business without paying fair value for the music.”

“TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay. Today, as an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue, and increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok accounts for only about 1% of our total revenue,” UMG stated.

Eventually, both parties worked things out and announced a new licensing agreement in May.