> According to an unnamed source cited by Variety, this could be a negotiating tactic by YouTube because, they say, “the previous deal actually does not expire until next week.”
EDIT: Also if this is just a negotiating tactic, this is fucking stupid. I just pulled up the YouTube Downloads on my phone and a bunch of them are marked as unplayable for exactly this reason:
“This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”
This is just making me pissed off at YouTube. YouTube as like the premier host for music and playlists that can’t be found anywhere else is the primary reason I use and pay for YouTube. Everything else is just a bonus.
> our music license agreement with SESAC has expired without an agreement on renewal conditions
> https://x.com/TeamYouTube/status/1840098708274168037
And elsewhere stated the same: https://9to5google.com/2024/09/28/youtube-music-sesac/
I agree this would make zero sense as a negotiating tactic (If they did want to use it as a negotiating tactic, don't needlessly do it before the real expiration date.)
Assuming the unnamed source is correct, I would guess the agreement expires end-of-month, and countries start entering October at 3am Monday Pacific Time, and Google wanted to turn the switch off ahead of the weekend, in case there were issues.
On another note, if Blackstone is planning to squeeze profit out of SESAC and make it uncompetitive that's really unfortunate. I have loved having roughly equal access to all the music licensing/rights organizations for decades.
Hah, love this zombie epidemic of equity firms walking around not moaning "brains... brains" but "money... money", and swallowing anything they think they can squeeze money out of. Housing? Culture? Transportation?
> content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the US.
This seems weird? SESAC is European but it's the US which loses the content? (Or is SESAC a global organization that just happens to have Europe in the name, in the same way the ECMAScript language isn't just used in Europe?)
Since this was plausible with SESAC in the news (I don't know, Rick is a UK artist?) I did my own search, and indeed, got rickrolled...
I fell for it myself--as soon as I read the article I searched out Britney and my two favs were still online. However, I just now searched out Lily Allen, and it appears that the promo video for "Smile" is under embargo! A pox upon both their houses!
