YouTube withdraws hundreds of music videos in SESAC copyright dispute

Hundreds of classic music videos and songs from Nirvana, Adele, Bob Dylan, Kendrick Lamar, Green Day and hundreds more are currently unavailable on YouTube due to a copyright dispute between the video platform and performing rights organization SESAC.

A YouTube spokesperson said this The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday that the site and SESAC were “unable to reach an equitable agreement” before their copyright agreement expired.

“We take copyright law very seriously and therefore the content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the United States,” the spokesperson said. “We are in active discussions with SESAC and hope to reach a new agreement as soon as possible.”

This means that hundreds of artists’ official YouTube channels no longer have SESAC-related content, meaning that for some artists, such as Nirvana, only live performances remain (as these are treated differently from a copyright perspective). .

Previously, some media outlets reported that the videos could still be searched on the site, but were unplayable, with a “video unavailable” message. This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.” However, at press time, the videos do not appear to be searchable at all on the platform and can only be found through pre-existing links.

Beyond Nirvana, many other iconic videos are now unavailable, such as Adele’s “Hello” and Green Day’s “American Idiot.” Other artists affected include REM, Burna Boy, Alice in Chains, Rush, Neil Diamond, Ariana Grande, Jack Harlow, Disclosure, Zac Brown, Rosanne Cash, Margo Price and more.

Discussions about restoring the music are ongoing, but no timeline has been released. To check it out for yourself, check out the video for “Come As You Are” below – if it works, the music has been restored. In the meantime, you can always embrace the old-school internet ethos and just watch unofficial uploads of the videos instead.