Some of the famous tracks by Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Green Day, Mariah Carey, and many others have been taken down from YouTube due to a contract dispute between the platform and SESAC.
On Saturday, a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement with The Hollywood Reporter, “We have held good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing deal.”
They went on to share, “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.”
“We are in active conversations with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible,” they added.
Some of the songs that are now unavailable on YouTube shows, “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country,” upon playing.
SESAC is a performing rights organization. According to its website, “SESAC currently licenses the public performance of more than 1.5 million songs on behalf of its 15,000+ affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers, which include such familiar names as Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, RUSH, Adele, Jack Harlow, Ariana Grande, Disclosure, Zac Brown, Rosanne Cash, Hillary Scott of Lady A, Lee Brice, Margo Price, Nicky Jam, Blanco Brown, and many more.”
