If you live in America and want to listen to Adele's Rolling in the Deep on YouTube you will be disappointed as the company pulled a long list of artists due to a dispute with SESAC.
And while in all other countries, like in Canada, throughout the EU, etc., in America things are a bit strange. If you go to an Adele video you will see the short message:
No video available
This video contains content from the user SESAC. Not available in your country.
The same goes for other artists, Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Green Day, Kanye West, Nirvana, Burna Boy and more.
In the original picture you will see what we see on YouTube when we request Rolling in the Deep with a VPN from America.
On the contrary, if we see it from Greece (without VPN), the video plays normally:
What is this SESAC?
SESAC stands for the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, which has existed since 1930 and, according to its website, “…currently licenses over 1,5 million songs for public performance on behalf of its 15.000+ affiliated songwriters and composers and music publishers.”
It's smaller than similar organizations like BMI and ASCAP, but SESAC lists many big-name artists in its portfolio. In 2017, was acquired by the company private equity Blackstone.
SESAC has a searchable database of his repertoire, although not all the songs listed there seem to have been removed. There's even a 44.267-page PDF available on the site if you want to read the full list.
According to an anonymous source cited by Variety, this could be a negotiating tactic by YouTube because, they say, "the previous deal actually expires next week."
Updated 1/10/2024: YouTube has finally struck a deal with music licensing body SESAC that will reinstate songs that were removed over the weekend.
SESAC confirmed the new deal, but noted that YouTube "unilaterally removed" the songs before their old deal expired on October 1. Obviously for bargaining power reasons.
