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In late September 2024, some songs and music videos became unavailable to users in the United States on YouTube and YouTube Music because YouTube and the performing-rights organization SESAC had not renewed their licensing agreement. The dispute was resolved on September 30, 2024, and YouTube said the affected content would be restored within the following day or two.
What happened?
Reports began appearing on September 28, 2024. U.S. users trying to play certain songs and music videos saw a message saying that the video contained content from SESAC and was unavailable in their country. The same problem affected both YouTube and YouTube Music.
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This was a regional rights restriction, not a general YouTube outage or a permanent purge of music. Reports indicated that playback outside the United States generally continued normally.
The wording “YouTube removed an artist’s music” is too broad. Availability differed from song to song, album to album, and version to version. A track could be affected because one of its songwriters or publishers was represented by SESAC, even when the recording appeared on an artist’s official channel.
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Which artists were affected?
Contemporary reports identified songs and videos associated with artists including Adele, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Nirvana, Kendrick Lamar, R.E.M., Jack Harlow, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, Burna Boy, Rush and Neil Diamond. This was not a definitive list of every affected artist or track.
9to5Google reported that older Adele albums were heavily affected while some newer material remained available. That uneven pattern is important: not every song by an affected artist necessarily involved the same writers, publishers or rights agreements.
What is SESAC?
SESAC is a U.S. performing-rights organization. It represents songwriters, composers and music publishers and licenses public-performance rights in musical compositions. It is not a record label that necessarily owns every recording that became unavailable.
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- Composition copyright: the underlying lyrics, melody and musical work, generally controlled by songwriters and publishers.
- Sound-recording copyright: the particular recorded performance, often controlled by a label or artist.
- Platform rights: the permissions a service needs to make a recording or video available in specific territories and formats.
The dispute primarily concerned works represented by SESAC. That explains how an official music video could be blocked even though the artist or label owned or uploaded the recording: the composition used in the video could still require a separate license.
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Reports described SESAC as representing more than 35,000 songwriters and publishers, while another account referred to a catalog of more than 1.5 million songs. Those figures measure different things and should not be treated as a single official total.
Why did YouTube block the songs?
YouTube said it had negotiated in good faith but had not reached what it called an “equitable agreement” with SESAC before the existing arrangement expired or was due to expire. It said content represented by SESAC was blocked in the U.S. because of copyright-law obligations. 9to5Google reproduced YouTube’s explanation.
SESAC disputed the timing. According to Music Business Worldwide, SESAC said its affiliates’ works had been removed unilaterally before the contract’s stated October 1, 2024 expiration date. That is SESAC’s account and should not be presented as an uncontested finding.
The dispute timeline
- September 28, 2024: users reported that selected music videos and songs were unavailable in the United States.
- September 28–30: YouTube attributed the restrictions to unsuccessful renewal negotiations with SESAC. SESAC disputed the timing of the removals.
- September 30: YouTube announced that it had reached a new agreement with SESAC.
- October 1–2: YouTube said previously blocked material would be restored across its services over the next day or two.
The financial terms, rates, contract length and other economic details of the new agreement were not disclosed. SESAC said the deal would provide compensation to its songwriters and publishers.
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Why was the impact uneven?
Music licensing is not one universal permission covering an entire artist’s catalog. Different songs may have different:
- songwriters and co-writers;
- publishers and rights administrators;
- record labels and recording owners;
- territorial licenses;
- versions, such as covers, remixes, live recordings and lyric videos; and
- rights-management metadata in YouTube’s systems.
Licenses are also commonly negotiated by territory. A song unavailable to a U.S. viewer might remain playable elsewhere, while a different version of the same song could have a separate rights status. YouTube’s restoration could also take time because its catalog and rights-management systems had to update.
This was not a copyright strike
The incident was a regional availability dispute, not a user-specific punishment. These outcomes are different:
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- Regional block: a video cannot be played in a particular country or territory.
- Content ID claim: YouTube identifies copyrighted material and may direct revenue, tracking or restrictions to a rights holder.
- Copyright strike: a formal enforcement action against a channel that can carry account consequences.
- Worldwide block: a video is unavailable across territories.
- Mute or monetization restriction: audio may be removed or advertising revenue may be assigned to a rights holder.
Creators whose uploads used affected compositions could encounter regional restrictions, claims or other limitations, but that did not automatically mean they had received a copyright strike.
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Did the songs return?
Yes, YouTube announced a deal with SESAC on September 30, 2024 and said restoration would begin over the next day or two. TheWrap and Music Business Worldwide reported the settlement and restoration plan.
That announcement confirms the temporary nature of the dispute. It does not independently verify the present-day availability of every individual track in 2026. If a particular video is unavailable now, it could involve a different licensing issue, a new regional restriction, a removed upload or an account-specific playback problem.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What should viewers do?
During the dispute, the practical options were to wait for the agreement to be implemented, check another official music service, or look for a different authorized version of the recording. A live performance, cover or alternate upload may have separate rights, but it may also be blocked or claimed.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsA VPN was sometimes mentioned as a possible workaround because the restriction was regional. It did not create a license, did not help creators clear music rights, could conflict with service terms and might produce unreliable playback or account issues. It was not a legal solution, and the dispute was resolved without requiring one.
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What should creators learn from the incident?
An official upload is not automatically cleared for every platform, territory or use. Creators should confirm both the composition rights and the sound-recording rights where applicable, document the licensed territories, and check whether permission covers commercial videos, Shorts, livestreams or advertising.
YouTube’s licensed music tools can reduce risk, but creators still need to understand the scope of any license. A Content ID claim is not the same as a strike, although unresolved rights problems can affect monetization and regional availability.
Could a similar disruption happen again?
Any service that depends on numerous music-rights agreements can experience regional catalog changes when negotiations fail or licenses expire. That is a general industry risk, not a prediction of a specific future YouTube dispute. The 2024 SESAC episode showed why a large platform can appear to “lose” familiar songs without the recordings being permanently deleted: a single rights layer can determine whether a video is playable in a particular territory.
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