Posted in: Music, Pop Culture, streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: alice in chains, Green Day, SESAC, youtube
YouTube, SESAC Dispute: Green Day, Alice in Chains & Others Blocked
A dispute between YouTube and SESAC has resulted in videos from Green Day, Alice in Chains, Adele, and others being blocked.
If you've been on YouTube today looking for Green Day's 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Alice in Chains' "Would?", Adele's "Someone Like You," or any number of songs from artists such as Bob Dylan, R.E.M., Fleetwood Mac, and others, there's a very good chance that instead of a music video, you were met with a blackish-gray screen that read "Video Unavailable" and "This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country." That's because YouTube and SESAC – an organization that collects royalties and helps protect the copyrights of songwriters, composers, music publishers, and more (like ASCAP and BMI).
Apparently, SESAC and YouTube have not yet reached a new renewal deal agreement – resulting in SESAC exercising its right to have the music pulled from YouTube. If that sounds familiar, it's in line with what went down between Universal Music Group and TikTok earlier this year, with artists such as Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny being pulled from the social media service for several months. "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," shared a YouTube representative in an official statement.
On its main website, SESAC notes that it currently licenses the public performances of 1.5M+ songs, representing its over 15,000 affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers. Along with the names listed above, the organization also represents artists such as Neil Diamond, RUSH, Jack Harlow, Ariana Grande, Disclosure, Zac Brown, and many more. In addition, SESAC has also represented the music for television series such as Grey's Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, A Million Little Things, Modern Family, and others – as well as film and television composers such as Christophe Beck, Danny Lux, The Newton Brothers, John Ehrlich, and many more.