YouTube recently blocked music by Green Day, Mötley Crüe, and Alice In Chains in SESAC dispute.
Green Day, Mötley Crüe, and Alice In Chains songs removed
Fans have noted that YouTube has removed songs like Adele’s ‘Someone Like You,’ Green Day’s ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams,’ Bob Dylan’s ‘I Want You,’ Mötley Crüe’s ‘Dr. Feelgood’ and R.E.M.’s ‘Losing My Religion’ because of a copyright issue with SESAC.
Other artists like Alice In Chains, Burna Boy, and Fleetwood Mac are also affected. Some of their videos show a black screen that says ‘Video unavailable’ and ‘This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country,’ but not all their songs are blocked.
“YouTube has blocked thousands of videos due to a licensing dispute with the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC). As a result, songs from artists represented by SESAC are no longer available on the platform,” Mitch Lafon also wrote on X.
He continued, “The dispute, likely centered around licensing fees or terms, has caused significant disruption for users who enjoy music by these artists. While the videos remain inaccessible in the United States, it’s worth noting that they may still be available in other regions like Canada.”
“I got this with a VPN set to US. Same video was not blocked in Canada,” Lafon also wrote, sharing a screenshot of the music video for ‘Dr. Feelgood’ where it said, “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”
SESAC enables songwriters protect their original work and collect royalties. Earlier this year, Universal Music Group had a problem with TikTok. This caused four million songs from artists like Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, and Adele to be taken off TikTok for months.
SESAC and YouTube are yet to make a new deal. Because of this, SESAC can stop music from being played on streaming services and the radio. However, it can be hard to enforce.
YouTube hasn’t addressed anything about this yet. However, its X account answered some users, saying, “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.”
Such blocks are normal when copyright companies and platforms disagree on deals. These legal disputes can last from days to months. For example, Warner Music Group removed music videos from YouTube for almost a year in 2008 and 2009.
YouTube has blocked thousands of videos due to a licensing dispute with the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC). As a result, songs from artists represented by SESAC are no longer available on the platform.
The dispute, likely centered around licensing fees… pic.twitter.com/Bc5rPD3DB1
— Mitch Lafon (@mitchlafon) September 30, 2024
