YouTube pulls songs from Adele, Nirvana, and others due to SESAC dispute

Sep 29, 2024

YouTube removed songs by artists like Adele and Nirvana due to unresolved negotiations with SESAC, but aims to resolve this soon.

YouTube pulls songs from Adele, Nirvana, and others due to SESAC dispute

: Numerous hit songs from artists such as Adele, Nirvana, and Kendrick Lamar were pulled from YouTube and YouTube Music due to ongoing contract negotiations with SESAC. YouTube cited an inability to reach a new deal in time as the reason for the removal. Discussions are ongoing to restore the content as promptly as possible. Some songs remain accessible, suggesting partial impact.

Numerous hit songs were removed from YouTube and YouTube Music on Saturday, impacting popular artists like Adele, Nirvana, Kendrick Lamar, and others. The removed tracks displayed a message indicating their unavailability due to SESAC content restrictions.

SESAC, an organization licensing over 1.5 million songs, recently encountered a hiccup in its contract negotiations with YouTube. Despite good faith efforts to renew the agreement, the negotiations failed, leading to the removal of SESAC-represented content from YouTube in the U.S.

YouTube spokesperson Mariana de Felice expressed hope for a new deal to be reached soon. Meanwhile, users experience inconsistencies as some songs remain available, indicating selective removal during the ongoing negotiations.