A lot of songs have disappeared from YouTube in the US. Here’s why. [UPDATED]

Every country has one or more performing rights organization (PRO). These organizations monitor public performances of songs by their members (radio, TV, live renditions, streaming, plays at stadiums, background music in stores, restaurants, and business, etc. etc. etc.) and then pay performances fees back to the artists.

In Canada, we have several PROs, the biggest being SOCAN. In the US, there’s ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. Each compete to sign up artists and composers. And anyone who wants to play material from artists signed to these organizations have to pay for a license. And here’s where the current problem comes in.

YouTube (and YouTube Music) gets BILLIONS of views for music content daily around the world, which means it has to have PRO licensing agreements in place.

However, American YouTube Music users have noticed that a bunch of songs (Green Day, Adele, Bob Dylan, Mariah Carey, Nirvana, Kendrick Lamar, and more) have disappeared from their streams and playlists.

Why? This.

How long will those songs be missing? Until a new license agreement is signed. (Weirdly, though, the license doesn’t expire for another week, so this appears to be some kind of negotiating move on YouTube’s part.)

YouTube says this:

“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 take copyright very seriously and as a result, content represented by Sesac is no longer available on YouTube in the US. We are in active conversations with Sesac and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible.”