Adele and Nirvana hits are among the music videos missing from YouTube in the US due to a copyright dispute

Music videos from artists including Adele and Nirvana have been blocked on YouTube in North America due to an ongoing copyright dispute.

The video-sharing platform has failed to reach agreement on a contract extension with licensing company SESAC, meaning many videos are unplayable in the US, including grunge legends Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Viewers will see the following message: “This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country.”

YouTube has promised to resolve the dispute “as quickly as possible.”

A statement released to Variety said: “We have engaged in good faith negotiations with SESAC to extend our existing contract. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach a fair agreement before the deadline. We take copyright very seriously and therefore 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.”

Hundreds and hundreds of videos were affected, including those by Green Day, Mariah Carey, Kendrick Lamar and REM

TikTok and Universal Music Group were embroiled in a similar dispute after the major label had all of its artists' music removed from the video platform due to concerns about AI and royalties.

However, in May, they reached an agreement with TikTok promising to “provide UMG's songwriters and artists with better compensation, new promotion and engagement opportunities for their recordings and songs, and industry-leading protections related to generative AI.”

It was agreed that the music would return to the site, and the ByteDance-owned site promised “new monetization opportunities leveraging TikTok's growing e-commerce capabilities” and “supports UMG artists across all genres and territories worldwide.”