Many songs are currently unavailable on YouTube in the United States due to an ongoing legal dispute between the video platform and the performing rights organization Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC). These songs include tracks from Adele, whose first performance of “Chasing Pavements” since 2017 has been taken down; Bob Dylan, where even covers of his songs are being blocked; Green Day, though their newer releases are still available; R.E.M., whose unreleased song is back to being unreleased in the US; Burna Boy, Rush and more. Variety reports that attempts to play a majority of these songs result 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 for several months earlier this year before resolving with a new licensing agreement in May

In a statement to Variety, a representative for YouTube stated, “We have held good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing deal. 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 conversation with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible.” Representatives for SESAC have yet to respond.

SESAC is a far smaller organization than the American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). SESAC has an estimated 30,000 members and 1.5 million compositions, while ASCAP has nearly 800,000 members; however, as the quality of artists affected by the block demonstrates, SESAC represents a large percentage of the market.

Performing rights organizations like SESAC, ASCAP and BMI in the US collect royalties and protect copyrights on behalf of songwriters and music producers. They are able to block certain public performances of music–from streaming services to music played in restaurants–though such bans are difficult to enforce, even for a service as big as YouTube.

These blocks are legally complex and can involve multiple copyright holders, although it may also reflect the volume of videos that must be blocked. Similarly, certain songs from Beyonce, Nicki Minaj and others are also affected by this block, presumably because their songs feature SESAC-affiliated songwriters.

Fans quickly took to social media as they noticed the block and received a series of explanatory posts from the TeamYouTube account on X (formerly Twitter).

“We hear you,” the post reads. “Our music license agreement with SESAC has expired without an agreement on renewal conditions despite our best efforts, for this reason, we have blocked content on YouTube in the US known to be associated with SESAC – as in line with copyright law.”

@claybitkid we hear you. our music license agreement with SESAC has expired without an agreement on renewal conditions despite our best efforts. for this reason, we have blocked content on YouTube in the US known to be associated with SESAC – as in line with copyright law

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) September 28, 2024

The account responded to frustration-fueled follow-up tweets from users by stating, “We understand this is a difficult situation and our teams continue to work on reaching a renewal agreement,” and “We’re continuing our discussions with SESAC to reach an agreement, but do not have any exact dates for future updates yet.”

Blocks like this are common when rights holders (record labels, publishers, PROs) and a broadcaster cannot come to terms on an agreement and usually do not last more than a few days or weeks. However, along with the UMG-TikTok battle that occurred earlier this year, one dispute between YouTube and Warner Music Group resulted in Warner pulling its videos from the platform for nearly nine months across 2008 and 2009 before terms were reached.

In the interceding years, YouTube’s formerly ambivalent relationship with music companies has become increasingly positive, ironically after the company hired former Warner recorded music chief Lyor Cohen as the head of music in 2016. However, as music fans have learned, these disputes still occur.