Why Songs By Adele, Kendrick Lamar & More Blocked On YouTube

Songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Green Day, R.E.M., Burna Boy, Rush, and several others are currently unavailable on YouTube in the U.S. due to an ongoing legal dispute between the platform and the performing rights organization SESAC. On Saturday, attempts to play many, though not all, songs by those artists resulted in the following message: “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”

Earlier this year, a similar conflict between Universal Music Group and TikTok lasted several months before being resolved. During that period, some artists’ music was also temporarily unavailable on the social media platform. Universal Music Group addressed the situation in a pointed open letter to artists and songwriters titled “Why we must call time out on TikTok.”

In a report from Variety, a YouTube representative shared, “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.”

The representative continued, “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.”

In response to user frustration, YouTube customer service has been addressing concerns on X (formerly Twitter). Replies from the TeamYouTube account read, “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 … We understand this is a difficult situation and our teams continue to work on reaching a renewal agreement.”

One person took to one of the company’s responses and said, “I literally pay for YouTube premium and I can’t listen to Ariana Grande, Adele, and Rihanna music.” Another person chimed in saying, “Now all of my playlists are ruined due to this copyright dispute. Those of us paying for "premium" subscriptions should be refunded or compensated.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, SESAC in the U.S. collects royalties and protects copyrights on behalf of songwriters and publishers. The organization’s website states, “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.”