Some of the most viewed and listened to music on YouTube and YouTube Music disappeared on Saturday, replaced by a text message:
Video not available
This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.
When people try to play Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” it’s probably not what they expect.“ Or Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Green Day, Kanye West and Burna Boy Other songs by the artist.
This leaves two questions: What is SESAC?
SESAC stands for the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, which has been in existence since 1930 and, according to its website, “… currently authorizes the public performance of more than 1.5 million songs and music publications on behalf of its more than 15,000 affiliated songwriters, composers business.
It is smaller than similar organizations such as BMI and ASCAP, but SESAC lists many big-name artists in its portfolio. In 2017, it was acquired by private equity firm Blackstone.
Answering the question of when SESAC’s music ban on YouTube and YouTube Music will end, or even which music will be removed, is a bit difficult.
SESAC has a searchable repository of tracks, but not all songs listed appear to have been removed. If you want to read the full list, there’s even a 44,267-page PDF available on the website. But not all songs share the same influences. While one listing for Kanye West’s “Power” has been blocked, the music video version is still streaming as of this writing.
The licensing organization has not commented publicly, but YouTube did respond to a request from edgeAs spokesperson Mariana de Felice writes:
We are negotiating in good faith with SESAC to renew the existing agreement. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach a fair agreement before the agreement expired. We take copyright very seriously and therefore SESAC agency content is no longer available on YouTube in the US. We are in active dialogue with SESAC and hope to reach a new agreement soon.
According to an unnamed source typethis could be YouTube’s negotiating tactic, as they stated that “the previous agreement doesn’t actually expire until next week.”
