Adele and Bob Dylan songs banned from YouTube amid legal dispute

Songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Green Day, REM, Burna Boy, Rush and many others are currently unplayable on YouTube in the US due to a legal dispute between the platform and performance rights organization SESAC.

Attempts to play many, but not all, of these artists’ songs on Saturday resulted in the following message: “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”

A similar dispute between Universal Music Group and TikTok lasted several months earlier this year before being resolved.

Performing rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI and SESAC in the US collect royalties and help protect copyrights on behalf of songwriters and music publishers. They have the ability to block public performances of music – which includes everything from streaming to radio to music played in restaurants – although this is cumbersome and difficult to enforce even for a platform as large as YouTube, as is the seemingly isolated blocking of currently shows SESAC material on the platform.

Such blocks are legally complex and may affect other copyright holders (for example, a live recording of the British broadcaster BBC’s Green Day is currently available, suggesting litigation), although they may also reflect the sheer volume of videos that are blocked must be. Certain songs by Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and other artists are also affected, presumably because they are featured by songwriters affiliated with SESAC.

Representatives for YouTube Music and SESAC did not immediately respond diversity‘s request for comment on Saturday, but the situation was raised in response to a fan who contacted the TeamYouTube account on X (formerly Twitter).

“We hear you,” it says. “Our music licensing agreement with SESAC has expired without agreement on renewal terms, despite our best efforts. “For this reason, we have blocked content on YouTube in the US that is known to be associated with SESAC – in accordance with copyright law.”

Responding to frustrated follow-up tweets from users, the company said: “We understand this is a difficult situation and our teams continue to work to reach an extension agreement” and “We are continuing our discussions with SESAC to “I don’t have exact dates for future updates yet.”

Such suspensions often occur when a copyright organization and a broadcaster cannot agree on a licensing agreement, and typically last no longer than a few days or weeks. However, one such dispute between YouTube and Warner Music Group, one of the world’s largest music companies, led to Warner withdrawing its videos from the platform for about nine months in 2008 and 2009 before terms were reached.

In recent years, YouTube’s formerly contentious relationship with music companies has become much more positive, ironically after the company hired former Warner recorded music chief Lyor Cohen in 2016.

Additional reporting by Steven J. Horowitz