YouTube removes songs by Adele, Nirvana, and other artists amid a dispute with SESAC.

On Saturday, some of the most popular music on YouTube and YouTube Music disappeared, showing a message that read:
“Video unavailable. This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”

Fans were likely surprised when trying to stream hits like Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” or tracks from artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Green Day, Kanye West, and Burna Boy.

This raises two main questions: what is SESAC, and when will the music return?

SESAC, which stands for the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, has been around since 1930. According to its website, SESAC licenses public performances for over 1.5 million songs on behalf of its 15,000+ affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers. Although smaller than BMI and ASCAP, SESAC represents numerous well-known artists. In 2017, the organization was bought by the private equity firm Blackstone.

As for when SESAC-affiliated music will return to YouTube and YouTube Music, it’s uncertain. SESAC provides a searchable database of its songs, but not all of them have been removed. For instance, while one version of Kanye West’s “Power” is blocked, the music video version remains accessible.

SESAC hasn’t issued a public statement, but YouTube’s spokesperson, Mariana de Felice, said:
“We’ve been in good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our deal, but unfortunately, we couldn’t reach an agreement before it expired. As a result, SESAC-represented content is no longer available in the U.S. on YouTube. We are actively working to finalize a new agreement.”

According to Variety, an anonymous source suggested this might be a negotiation tactic by YouTube, as the previous deal isn’t set to expire until next week.