Thousands of Music Videos, Including Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ Removed From YouTube Amid Copyright Dispute

Thousands of songs and music videos by hundreds of artists have vanished from YouTube after the video site failed to reach a new agreement with publishing rights organization SESAC.

Artists like Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Mariah Carey, Green Day and hundreds more were impacted by the impasse created as SESAC’s deal with YouTube nears expiration.

“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,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement Saturday to Variety. 

“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.”

Among the songs and videos removed from YouTube during the dispute is Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” with only unofficial uploads remaining on the site. In fact, every studio recording and music video has been scrubbed from Nirvana’s official YouTube channel, with only the band’s MTV Unplugged and other live performances remaining on the page. (For many of the impacted artists, live performances are loopholed from a copyright perspective and remain on YouTube.)

A few officially uploaded Nirvana videos, like their “Come As You Are,” remain searchable on YouTube, but are unplayable: “Video unavailable. This video contains content from SESAC. It is not available in your country,” a disclaimer notes.
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Want to watch the video for Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues“? The video is “unavailable.” Similarly, every Adele song and music video prior to her latest album 30 has been removed from YouTube, including “Hello,” “Chasing Pavements,” and more. 

SESAC, which “currently licenses the public performance of more than 1.5 million songs on behalf of its 15,000+ affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers,” has not yet commented on the YouTube dispute.