YouTube blocks Adele and Dylan

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the recent blocking of music videos by YouTube in the US due to an expired licensing agreement with SESAC, a corporation that collects royalties for songwriters and artists. Participants explore the implications of this situation, including the negotiation dynamics between Google and SESAC.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant explains that the blocking of videos is due to an expired agreement between YouTube and SESAC, which has led to a dispute over royalty payments.
  • Another participant humorously references Bob Dylan, suggesting a connection to the situation but does not elaborate further.
  • Some participants express confusion about the situation, indicating a lack of clarity regarding the implications of the licensing issues.
  • A minor update notes that the license is set to expire soon, suggesting that YouTube's actions may have been preemptive rather than illegal.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not appear to reach a consensus on the implications of the licensing dispute, with some expressing confusion and others making light of the situation. The discussion remains somewhat unresolved regarding the broader impact of these events.

Contextual Notes

There are indications of missing details regarding the specific terms of the negotiations between Google and SESAC, as well as the historical context of royalty payments and their impact on such agreements.

Vanadium 50
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Yesterday, a number of music videos were rendered unplayable in the US by YouTube. Why? The arrangement with SESAC has expired and both sides say they cannot reach an agreement. (One side says "equitable agreement".

What is SESAC? It is a corporation that collects royalties for songs. If you write a song, and someone records it, and then the record is played on a radio station in Grand Forks, North Dakota, that station owes you a royalty - maybe a dime. It costs far more than a dime for you to bill them, and far more than a dime for them to pay you, and that's where ASCAP, BMI and SESAC come in.

These companies collect all the royalties for all their artists, so our radio station only needs to write 3 checks. They divvy up the royalties and mail the checks to the artists and songwriters.

Google is bigger than our Grand Forks station, so they feel they can leverage that to get a big discount. SESAC, in this case, would like to see a smaller discount. And that's where the dispute comes in.

In the process of looking things up, I found out that Google is in some cases twelve years behind in royalty payments. I am sure this has some impact on the negotiations.
 
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A simple twist of fate :smile:
 
I don't understand.
 
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Bob Dylan song, tried to compare Google break in the USA with unexpected but rapidly vanishing experience. My hope, tried to express my wish.
 
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Minor update: the license apparently expires this week, so Google jumped the gun a bit. Nothing wrong or illegal about that - they get to decide on their own content, after all.
 
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