Can’t find your favorite song on YouTube? You’re not alone

The convenience of online music streaming is undeniable. But one of the drawbacks is that you’ll have to put up with licensing issues and disputes from time to time. Such is the case with YouTube and YouTube Music in which a bunch of popular songs have suddenly vanished.

There are reports from users who are greeted by a “Video unavailable” message when trying to listen to their favorite songs on the platform. It turns out that this is due to a licensing issue with SESAC, Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, who helps with the licensing of more than 1.5 million songs.

Streaming platforms like YouTube have licensing deals with various record labels and publishers to have the right to stream music from artists. These licensing deals aren’t perpetual and need to be renewed every now and then, and sometimes these negotiations can fall through. This was pretty much confirmed by YouTube spokesperson Mariana de Felice, who in a statement to The Verge 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 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.”

That being said, it was previously expected that this licensing deal would only expire by the end of this week. This suggests that this could be a negotiating tactic by YouTube to perhaps land themselves more favorable terms.