Music lovers in the United States who rely on YouTube as a music player are in for a rough ride. According to a report by Deadline, a number of songs have been blocked by YouTube in a legal dispute with SESAC, a performance rights organisation that deals with copyright issues for performers and publishers. Among the tracks affected? Someone Like You by Adele, Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, I Want You by Bob Dylan, and Losing My Religion by REM.
Other artists have also been affected by the dispute. Viewers attempting to access certain tracks by Alice in Chains, Burna Boy and Fleetwood Mac are met with a black screen reading "Video unavailable" along with the subhead "This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country."
As per the publication, SESAC is among several companies helping songwriters protect their original work and collect royalties. A similar dispute occurred between Universal Music and TikTok earlier this year, resulting in four million songs from Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and Adele being pulled from the platform.
Negotiations to renew an existing deal between YouTube and SESAC are currently pending. Whilst SESAC has yet to publicly address the issue, a YouTube representative said to Variety, "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."
Fans who rely on YouTube as a music streaming platform have taken to Reddit to express their frustration. "I wouldn't know half of the songs I listen to if I hadn't heard it on YouTube!" lamented one fan, as another added, "Seriously, YouTube is a music player more than anything else."
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