If you’ve recently noticed that some of your favorite songs are missing from YouTube Music, you’re not alone.
Many users in the United States have reported songs disappearing or becoming unplayable due to a licensing issue between YouTube and SESAC, a major performance rights organization.
Here’s what happened and when you can expect your music to return.
Why YouTube Music songs disappeared
The disappearance of songs from YouTube Music is due to a licensing dispute between YouTube and SESAC (Society of European Performing Authors and Composers). SESAC represents many renowned artists, including Adele and Ariana Grande, and oversees the performance rights to more than 1.5 million songs.
When a company like YouTube wants to use music on its platform, it must obtain a license from performing rights organizations like SESAC. These agreements ensure that artists are paid when their music is publicly released.
Unfortunately, the agreement between YouTube and SESAC expired recently without a new agreement in place. This resulted in the removal of songs represented by SESAC from YouTube and YouTube Music.
However, the removal was not consistent across all SESAC-affiliated artists. While some songs from popular artists like Adele and Nirvana disappeared completely, other SESAC-affiliated artists like Kesha remained available.
Users encountered an error message when trying to play these tracks, which read: “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country. Some songs have also disappeared from search results, creating further confusion.
YouTube confirmed this in a statement provided to 9to5Google, explaining that despite its best efforts, negotiations with SESAC had stalled and, as a result, songs from the SESAC catalog were temporarily blocked.
When will my YouTube Music songs be back?
Fortunately, YouTube managed to reach a new agreement with SESAC. On September 30, 2024, YouTube announced that it had successfully reached a new agreement with the performing rights organization.
This means that all missing songs will return to YouTube and YouTube Music over the next few days.
YouTube acknowledged the frustration caused by the outage and expressed appreciation for users’ patience. While it’s a relief that the issue has been resolved, it may take a little time to fully restore all missing content.
So if your favorite tracks are still not showing or playing, they should be back soon.
If you haven’t started using YouTube Music yet, now is a great opportunity to try it. Additionally, you can now also search YouTube Music.
