- YouTube recently removed music with performance rights controlled by SESAC, after the existing deal expired
- A new deal is now in place, and missing music should return over the next couple days.
Over the weekend, users of YouTube and YouTube Music alike started noticing something quite odd: songs were going missing. Tracks previously available on the services started throwing up error messages when people tried to access them, complaining about rights issues with “content from SESAC.” While it’s been a bumpy few days, it looks like Google has finally worked this issue out, and all your favorite music should be returning shortly.
SESAC, or the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, is an organization that manages performance rights for artists like Adele, Fleetwood Mac, and Nirvana. When companies like Google want to make music available on their streaming services, they ink deals with groups like SESAC to secure those rights. Problem is, Google’s deal with SESAC was up for renewal, and expired before the companies could come to a new arrangement. Without an active deal, Google had no choice but to pull all this content down from YouTube and YouTube Music.