YouTube And YouTube Music Lost Many Songs In The US Due To License Disputes With SESAC

YouTube and YouTube Music are in dispute over licenses with the SESAC. (photo: x @losheadlines)

JAKARTA - YouTube and YouTube Music in the United States experienced massive deletion of a number of songs due to licensing disputes with the SESAC. YouTube is currently conducting active negotiations with the SESAC and hopes to reach a new agreement soon.

Over the past few days, YouTube Music users in the US have found many songs marked with exciting signs and cannot play. The error message "The song is not available This video contains content from SESAC and is not available in your country" appears when the song is selected.

Meanwhile, on YouTube's main platform, users can still open the music video, but will receive the same message of error when trying to play it.

SESAC is an organization that represents the copyright of musical works owned by songwriters and publishers, as well as their right to display the work in public. They offer general licensing agreements that are considered the most practical and economical method to obtain permission to display copyrighted music publicly.

Some of the top artists affiliated with the SESAC include Adele, RAM, Jack Harlow, Bob Dylan, and Neil Diamond, with more than 1.5 million songs in their catalog. On the artist's page on YouTube Music, an album from an artist like Adele still appears, but most of the songs, especially from the initial albums, have been removed. The latest music from some artists remains available.

Officially, YouTube stated that their music license agreement with the SESAC had expired without reaching approval regarding the terms of renewal, despite the best efforts of their side. Therefore, content represented by the SESAC has been blocked in the US in accordance with copyright law.

A YouTube spokesperson said they had been trying to reach a fair agreement with the SESAC, but had not been successful before the license expired. They also confirmed that they really appreciate copyright and hope to reach a new agreement with the SESAC soon.

YouTube Music users are asked to report which songs, albums and artists are missing from the platform.