YouTube blocks songs by Adele, Nirvana, Bob Dylan and more due to legal dispute

Songs by several artists, including Adele, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Green Day and more, have been blocked from YouTube following a legal dispute between the video-sharing site and the rights organization SESAC execution.

The blocks didn’t affect all of these artists’ songs, but when users clicked to listen to some of them – like Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” – they instead received a message that said: This video contains content from SÉSAC. It is not available in your country.

A YouTube spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter: “We have been in good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing agreement. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach a fair agreement before it expired. We take copyright very seriously, and therefore content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the United States. We are in active discussions with SESAC and hope to reach a new agreement as soon as possible.

The X TeamYouTube account responded to customer complaints throughout Saturday. In a message, they explained that the music licensing agreement with SESAC had expired “without agreement on the terms of renewal despite our best efforts” and that as a result, “we have blocked content on YouTube in the United States known to be associated with SESAC – as in line with copyright law.

They later added: “We understand this is a difficult situation and our teams continue to work to reach a renewal agreement. »

In the United States, SESAC is responsible for collecting royalties and helping to protect the copyrights of songwriters and publishers. The organization has not commented on the dispute with YouTube. According to the organization’s website, its repertoire currently includes one million songs spanning genres such as “Top 40, Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, Rock, Country, Spanish (Pop, Regional Mexican, Tropical, Rhythmic), Blues, Jazz. , Big Band, Folk, Contemporary Christian, Gospel and many others.”

This news was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter.