Thousands of music videos removed from YouTube due to copyright dispute

Over the weekend, thousands of songs and music videos from artists like Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Mariah Carey and hundreds more have been removed from YouTube. The drastic and surprising move came after YouTube failed to agree on a new agreement with publishing rights organization SESAC. “We have been negotiating in good faith with SESAC to extend our existing contract. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach a fair settlement before the deadline,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday. “We take copyright law very seriously and as a result, the content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the United States. We are in active discussions with SESAC and hope to reach a new agreement as soon as possible.” Composers and music publishers licensed,” has not publicly commented on his dispute with YouTube. (Rolling Stone)