Meaning of SESAC on YouTube: Legal Dispute Blocks Songs by Adele, Nirvana, Bob Dylan & More on Video Streaming Platform

YouTube, the widely-used video streaming platform, has removed numerous songs from prominent artists, including Adele, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Kendrick Lamar, Green Day, and even Mariah Carey in the United States. This action resulted from a contractual disagreement between YouTube and SESAC, primarily concerning the copyright protections of the artists.

For those unfamiliar, SESAC, which stands for the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, is a performing rights organization that has been operational since the 1930s. According to SESAC’s official website, the organization has licensed over 1.5 million songs from more than 15,000 artists, including prominent songwriters, composers, and vocalists.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, SESAC and YouTube have failed to come to an agreement regarding renewal terms and copyright regulations, resulting in the removal of all SESAC-licensed songs in the U.S. from the video streaming service.

The Hollywood Reporter:

“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.”

The company further stated:

“We are in active conversations with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible.”

Numerous popular artists’ YouTube videos now show ‘video unavailable’ error in the United States

In addition to Adele, Kendrick Lamar, and Nirvana, other affected artists include Alice in Chains, Burna Boy, and Fleetwood Mac. Users are currently unable to stream many of these artists’ songs on YouTube, encountering a “video unavailable” error message that states, “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”

YouTube took to X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, September 28, 2024, to address the queries regarding the streaming issues. The platform responded to several users, asserting:

“Our music license agreement with SESAC has expired without an agreement on renewal conditions despite our best efforts. For this reason, we have blocked content on YouTube in the US known to be associated with SESAC – in accordance with copyright law.”

As YouTube and SESAC generate headlines due to their inability to reach a mutual understanding, many users alike recall the recent conflict between Universal Music Group and TikTok. This earlier disagreement resulted in numerous songs by popular artists being removed from the platform, but following a settlement between the organizations, those tracks were eventually restored.

As of the writing of this article, neither YouTube nor SESAC has clarified when the dispute will be resolved or if fans will regain access to the blocked videos in the U.S.

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