YouTube removes songs by Adele, Nirvana, and others due to conflict with SESAC.
What is SESAC?
Last Saturday, some of the most popular videos and songs on YouTube and YouTube Music became unavailable, replaced by a brief message: "Video unavailable. This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country." This situation was not what many expected when trying to play tracks like "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele, as well as other hits from artists like Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Green Day, Kanye West, and Burna Boy. This raises two questions: What is SESAC? And when will the music return?
SESAC, which stands for the Society of European Authors and Composers, was founded in 1930 and, according to its website, currently licenses the public performance of over 1.5 million songs on behalf of more than 15,000 affiliated composers, lyricists, and music publishers. Although it is smaller than similar organizations like BMI and ASCAP, SESAC has a notable number of renowned artists in its repertoire and was acquired in 2017 by the private equity firm Blackstone.
As for when the SESAC music ban on YouTube and YouTube Music will be lifted, and which music has been removed, the answer is more complex. SESAC has a searchable database of its repertoire, although not all listed songs appear to have been removed. In fact, there is an extensive 44,267-page PDF document containing the full list available on its site. However, not all songs have been affected in the same way; for example, while Kanye West's "Power" is blocked, its music video version remains accessible.
Regarding the lack of public comments from the licensing organization, YouTube responded to an inquiry, indicating that they have been negotiating in good faith with SESAC to renew the existing agreement. However, despite their best efforts, they were unable to reach a deal just before it expired. In their statements, YouTube emphasized the seriousness they place on copyright, which has led to the content represented by SESAC being unavailable in the U.S. Furthermore, they are in active discussions with SESAC and hope to reach a new agreement soon. According to an unnamed source cited by Variety, this could be a negotiation tactic by YouTube, as reportedly "the previous agreement does not actually expire until next week."