US: YouTube removes Adele, Ye's songs over licensing dispute
YouTube has pulled a bunch of popular songs from its platform and YouTube Music in the US, because of a feud with the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC). This means tracks from big names like Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Green Day, Ye, and Burna Boy are now missing. If you try to stream those songs, you'll see a message saying, "Video unavailable. This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country."
What is SESAC?
Founded in 1930, SESAC takes care of the public performance licenses for more than 1.5 million songs, for over 15,000 songwriters, composers, as well as music publishers. Even though it's smaller than other organizations like BMI and ASCAP, SESAC has a pretty impressive roster of big-name artists. It was acquired by the private equity firm Blackstone in 2017.
Not all songs have been removed
There's still no word on when the music ban on YouTube and YouTube Music will wrap up or even which specific tracks have been pulled. SESAC has a searchable database of its repertoire, but not every song listed there seems to be affected. For example, one listing for Ye's Power is blocked, but as far as we can tell, the music video version is still streaming without a hitch.
YouTube's response
A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement, "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," they added.
This might be a negotiation tactic
According to Variety, an anonymous source said that this could be a negotiating tactic used by YouTube. This is because "the previous deal actually does not expire until next week."
