YouTube is blocking some songs from popular artists a week before a licensing contract expires. This could be a negotiation tactic, a new report suggests.

Songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Green Day, R.E.M., Burna Boy, Rush and other artists were blocked on Saturday on YouTube in the U.S. due to the dispute between YouTube and SESAC, which represents 30,000 members and 1.5 million compositions (and is smaller than ...

The blocks didn't affect all of these artists songs, but when users clicked to listen to some of them — like "Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele — they instead were met with a message that reads, "This video contains content from SESAC.