YouTube loses access to songs and YouTube Music have been the darlings of any eager streamer, offering an expansive library of songs that has spanned decades and touched on every genre imaginable. But people in the U.S. learned otherwise this past weekend when they tried streaming songs by artists including Adele, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Green Day, and Kendrick Lamar, among others-only to find an error message. This in turn, though, is a consequence of a licensing dispute between YouTube and SESAC, Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, due to which some of the most viewed content has not been available in the region.
Silenced: The Growing Problem Affecting YouTube Users
Well, try to listen to a song or watch a music video on YouTube from several of your favorite artists, and you’ll find yourself with an aggravating error message. You’re not alone, far from it. Several U.S.-based users of the site have reported that several high-profile musicians’ content is now unavailable. The error message simply says that the song or video has been blocked due to SESAC licensing restrictions, which pretty much covers every genre of music under their label.
In the meantime, anyone outside the U.S. can continue to watch those songs and music videos without any issue, and that raises an important question for American users: why is it blacked out for them? The reason all centers around music licensing.
What is SESAC and Why is It Blocking YouTube Content?
SESAC stands for the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers. It is an important society within the music world, as it helps in the collection of public performance and playback rights for more than 15,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers; this is what allows artists to get paid when their music plays on YouTube.
Where it does become an issue is that YouTube has not been able to reach an agreement on a new licensing deal with SESAC. As explained by YouTube spokesperson Mariana de Felice, the company had been in good-faith negotiations with SESAC to renew their existing arrangement, but they were unable to come to an agreement before the current contract expired. As such, content licensed by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube for U.S. users.
Could This Be a Negotiation Tactic?
There’s a growing amount of speculation that the early pull of SESAC-licensed content from YouTube could be part of a negotiation tactic. A report out from Variety seemed to raise some suspicion, as it said that YouTube’s deal with SESAC wasn’t set to expire until next week. So why block the songs early?
YouTube could use that as leverage in the continuing negotiation to get more favorable terms. Suddenly, millions of US users could not access their favorite tracks, so SESAC might be forced to return to the negotiation table and finalize the deal as soon as possible. Until that accord is reached, though, it’s anyone’s guess when the affected content will return to YouTube or YouTube Music.
YouTube’s Positioning: A Commitment to Copyright
In this standoff, YouTube claims that it remains steadfast in the protection of intellectual property. Mariana de Felice, underscoring that copyright is taken very seriously by YouTube, said: “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 are in active conversations with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible.”
But this statement, while it goes to show YouTube’s intention to carry on the negotiations for a solution, does little to reassure those millions of users who have already lost their music content. No timeline as to when this resolution will be reached has been suggested, thereby raising speculation if interim solutions should be other services streaming music.
Others have temporarily circumvented this problem by resorting to the service of a Virtual Private Network, which disguises their location in the U.S. and unclogs their access to the content barred from them. This way, they become capable of streaming songs otherwise exclusively available in regions such as Europe or Asia. The catch is, while this may be a temporary solution, it’s not ideal for everyone.
However, the catch is that one gets slower connection speeds when streaming music via a VPN, and it’s not a long-term solution. There’s also a chance that YouTube could upgrade its geo-blocking mechanism to the detriment of workaround solutions for current viewership. Users are also understandably looking for a more concrete solution to the problem.
How YouTube Music Subscribers Are Impacted
This has just caused a giant problem for those subscribed to YouTube Music. In one swooping motion, music from some of the biggest names in the industry was suddenly cut off, and many people started to question subscribing to the service. I mean, with other streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal, which give access to these artists’ uninterrupted catalogs, the magic of remaining with YouTube Music may soon wear off.
Posts to the YouTube Music subreddit would certainly indicate it, with frustrated users already looking for workarounds and alternatives to the site. It isn’t until YouTube iron out its licensing issues with SESAC that the service will no longer run the risk of losing some of its most loyal users to competitors.
Conclusion: Where’s the Music?
For the time being, none of the above questions have ready answers: how the concerned songs and music videos will come back to YouTube and YouTube Music for U.S. users, when they will return. The ongoing negotiations between YouTube and SESAC bring some hope that, within the uncertain situation, several persons will seek alternatives through some other streaming services or at least VPNs to download their favorite contents.
Until that day comes, YouTube will have to thread this tricky situation with care, as frustrated users are already considering making a jump to other services.
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