Hundreds of videos featuring songs by major artists such as Adele, Green Day, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, and R.E.M. have been blocked in the U.S. since Saturday, September 28, 2024 because of a dispute between YouTube and SESAC, a performing rights organization.
When viewers try to play certain music videos, they are welcomed with the message: "This video contains content from SESAC." It's not available in your country." In at least one case, users have even been presented with an ad before the video is blocked.
Interestingly, however, not all videos by these artists are blocked, it's unclear whether the ones available are exempt from the dispute or if they've simply been missed.
YouTube, however, clarified that it was a result of failure to agree on conditions for royalty payments with SESAC. The site publicly described itself to have done its best but the negotiating process with SESAC proved unsuccessful. According to YouTube, they were forced to take down content represented by SESAC from the platform in the United States; instead, they declared themselves keen to solve the issue soon.
This is a replay of a similar dispute earlier this year between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok. Then, during the dispute, UMG removed songs from its music catalog from TikTok in a row over royalty payments on its videos. In that, UMG withdrew hits from artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande from the popular video-sharing app and service as it held talks with the service on royalty terms.
Representing over 35,000 songwriters and publishers both camps remain in dialogue with one another as they continue to try to work toward a solution and are able to gain access back to the video files.
