Thousands of music videos removed from YouTube due to copyright dispute

Thousands of songs and music videos from hundreds of artists have disappeared from YouTube after the video site failed to reach a new agreement with publishing rights organization SESAC.

Artists like Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Mariah Carey, Green Day and hundreds more were affected by the impasse that arose when SESAC’s contract with YouTube expired.

“We have been negotiating in good faith with SESAC to extend our existing contract. “Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach a fair agreement before the deadline,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday diversity.

“We take copyright law very seriously and therefore the content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the US. We are in active discussions with SESAC and hope to reach a new agreement as soon as possible.”

Songs and videos removed from YouTube during the dispute include Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” with only unofficial uploads remaining on the site. In fact, all studio recordings and music videos have been removed from Nirvana’s official YouTube channel, only those of the band MTV Unplugged and other live performances that remain on the site. (For many of the affected artists, live performances are subject to a copyright loophole and remain on YouTube.)

Some officially uploaded Nirvana videos, like their “Come As You Are,” remain searchable on YouTube but cannot be played: “Video unavailable. This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country,” a disclaimer reads.

Would you like to see the video for Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”? The video is “unavailable”. Likewise, every Adele song and music video before her latest album 30 have been removed from YouTube, including “Hello,” “Chasing Pavements,” and more.

SESAC, which “currently licenses the public performance of more than 1.5 million songs on behalf of its over 15,000 affiliated songwriters, composers and music publishers,” has not yet commented on the YouTube dispute.