Songs by Adele, Kendrick Lamar Blocked by YouTube Due to Legal Dispute

Songs by Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Green Day and Mariah Carey, among others, are currently unavailable on YouTube due to a contract dispute between the platform and SESAC, a performing rights organization.

A YouTube spokesperson shared in a statement with The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday, “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. 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.”

Some songs by several artists were met with this message when attempting to be played: “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”

SESAC in the U.S. collects royalties and helps protect copyrights on behalf of songwriters and publishers. On the organization’s website, it said, “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.”

Throughout the day on Saturday, the TeamYouTube account on X (formerly Twitter) has been responding to platform users’ frustrations regarding the situation. “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,” their message reads.

THR has also reached out to SESAC for comment.

A similar legal dispute between Universal Music Group and TikTok happened for several months earlier this year before they finally reached a music licensing agreement. During that time, some artists’ music was also not available on the social media platform.