Apple Launches iTunes Affiliate Program

An anonymous user writes, "Apple has launched an affiliate program for their iTunes music store that earns participants 5% commission. Affiliates can link directly to songs, albums, and artists, as well as apply to the Apple Store affiliate program to sell hardware. It costs nothing to join and people that sign up prior to September 15 can win one of five free iPod minis. Apple has also assembled a handy FAQ."

Fight the Enemy

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems the folks at DownhillBattle.org could use this to raise revenue and pay the artist 5 cents on each song sold...

FAQ?

[LihTox]

I love Apple, but there are two things that struck me:
1) "Frequently Asked Questions"? How long has this been around that there are questions asked frequently? :)
2) In the FAQ, there is the sentence "You can only use approved creative provided by iTunes." When did "creative" become a noun?

Incentive for smaller labels?

[photonagon]

Seems like this might be an additional incentive for smaller labels to join up with iTunes store, or perhaps even independant artists to start doing so.

I'm not exactly sure how Apple signs labels (or individuals) even after a bit of browsing on their site.

SSN + No encryption = ???

[muel]

Am I too paranoid to feel completely iffy about submitting my social security number over a non-encrypted website? I don't think it's very naive to expect a little lock icon to pop up when I visit Apple's "tell us everything about you, but we'll keep it private, fer sure, promise!!!11" zone.

Re:SSN + No encryption = ???

[mosch]

<form name="form1" action="https://ssl.linksynergy.com/php-bin/reg/sr egister.shtml?mid=13508&no_r=1" method="post">

Beginning of a Revolution?

[Fraser Cain]

I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for the traditional music companies. From what I understand, the key benefit they bring to the music business is marketing. They use their marketing and distribution channels to make a band popular or not.

If iTunes is starting to offer an affiliate program, then it will encourage websites to develop song lists and various tools that analyze your current listening tastes and then recommend songs that you can buy from iTunes. Obviously there'll be a flurry of crap and SPAM, but eventually some pretty cool services are going to emerge.

Services which can avoid the traditional music labels entirely. Artists can produce a song, a vast network of freelance marketers can promote it (instead of 5 big media conglomerates), and music buyers can pay for it.

Re:Beginning of a Revolution?

[gl4ss]

revolution???
wtf? and those 'tools' aren't going to be a new thing.

what you will see however for certain is google-spam. because it's not 'really' spam to have spam google. it just needs ten people to do linkfarms of all pop songs going between them or so and you'll be completely fucked for finding a site with real content about these songs.

apple would probably be able to weed out spyware 'recommenders' and nasty stuff like that but they can't really weed out those zombie websites with generated content that's just links to other sites of theirs with generated content(and adverts)..

Re:Recursive marketing sucks. A lot.

[Hi_2k]

Recursive marketing is a breath of fresh air compared to the old style. I flip through the channels on my TV and see ads that I classify into three categories: Useless, stupid, and funny. Useless is things like Tampons, or Dishwashing detergent, neither of which I would buy even with their assurances of "Grease fighting crystals". Stupid is any sort of medication, which should be pitched and perscribed only by a liscenced doctor with your best interests at heart. Funny ads are almost exculsivley a fairly standard joke with a single logo or name tacked on.

Even worse are things like "Targeted" advertisements on the internet. Google's getting better, but internet ads still fall into the basic categories.

None of these catergories comes close to informing me or making good use of my time. My friends, on the other hand, have a pretty good idea of what I like and have a pretty vested interest in giving me honest opinions. Music is meant to be a question of "Hey, Bob, come listen to this song, it's got a really catchy tune.", not of "LOOKIT THIS GIRLS BOOBS! AND SHE SINGS!". It will happen, and this is it.

It's like the old joke about lotteries...

[rlowe69]

... they're just a tax on people who are bad at math.

The odds are still terrible you'll win an iPod Mini, but it looks like the only thing signing up for this will cost you is your time.

But Context is everything...

[ImaLamer]

Imagine that I run a site which talks about music in general or just hip-hop, jazz or whatever. Those kinds of people can slip little ads into their site which make sense. It's a lot easier than just telling people to venture to their local [INSERT ANTIQUE FORMAT] store and grabbing one off the shelf.

I, for example, have a political website. Right now there are lots of good political books that relate exactly to the content of my site. It makes sense to have a "click here to buy this" after book quotes. What doesn't make sense is putting them on every page even where they don't belong. (Not that I take advantage of this because I can't find a good affiliate program that does this, amazon IIRC doesn't offer this anymore).

Sure, you'll get google-bombed pages which have nothing but "buy this song" links but out there someone can turn his or her hobbie into a cash cow. It may not be much money - but to the site's readers it means the site may be up next year come domain/hosting renewal time.

Although, can you imagine the possibility with iTunes affiliate programs? Music has a much broader appeal. I can put my favorite song's name and artist name in my Slashdot sig, just to get people turned on to their music. It would be annoying for everyone to link to Britney Spears or some other pop-star, but obscure music could be marketed for almost nothing.

The cool thing is that you can help support your favorite artist and get a kickback while doing it. The reason that Britney and company are so popular is because people vote with their dollars. If there is suddenly a huge surge in Jaco Pastorius songs sold on iTunes maybe radio stations will get a clue and stop following the RIAA's lead.

btw... get a freeipod already! [freeipods.com] ;-) he he he.... couldn't resist.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

My Very own IPOD compatable Music Store.

[tonywestonuk]

Link directly from your website to any song, album or artist on iTunes. iTunes offers the largest and most diverse legal music download catalogue -- over 1 million tracks from all five major labels and over 600 leading independents. So... Lets say I copied all the available tunes titles from the itunes store, and launched a kickass amazing sites that was more friendly than iTunes , easier to navigate through. (If this is indeed possible, is not the issue here). So, My site becomes a instant Google like hit, Consumers are happy (iPod compatable song downloads), I'm getting 5% of each tune that is sold... (5% of millions, is, well Loadsass!), so I'm happy also. So, what would be the difference (not technically, but Visibly to the consumer) between this setup, and Apple [doing what everyone's screaming at them to do, but they won't] licensing the AAC technology to a third party to allow them to set up their own store?.....

in the latter case, To get the protected AAC files to your iPod, you still need iTunes (to handle the drm keys), So Apples presence will still be there.
How much differences will there realy be?

Re:So...

[gl4ss]

so what you're saying is that the $ won't accumulate over months, that you have to hit that 25$ monthly payment limit or apple gets to keep the money?

How to *really* win an iPod Mini

[0x0d0a]

The odds are still terrible you'll win an iPod Mini, but it looks like the only thing signing up for this will cost you is your time.

Yup. So it consumes some chunk of your time for an incredibly small chance to win an iPod Mini.

You really want an iPod Mini, with a 100% chance to win (and help out the other folks in the Open Source world)?

Do a GNOME Bug Bounty [gnome.org], and just *buy* an iPod Mini.

Apple wins, you win, the Open Source world wins, and the musicians win.

Affiliate vs. Artist Share

[patricksevenlee]

Wow, 5%? Artists get 10-14%.

Already been linking to songs on my site ...

[adzoox]

This is really great. I have been linking to songs as part of all my stories on my website [jackwhispers.com] - since I started it in January. My site stats show that 3 out of every 10 visitors are at least clicking on the iTunes Music Store Link. I'll now be able to see how many people are actually buying songs. I've had a few reader emails telling me that they have.

[Note that one thing the parent is not mentioning ... not everyone that "signs up" is going to be able to participate - there is a case by case approval process]

I realize that 5% isn't much, but it's actually a huge percentage considering what Apple makes. [I take it that their estimated 3 profit per song has gone up]

This could be a great way for websites such as mine - who are also Apple oriented to get a tiny bit of operation revenue.

I hate banner ads - so it 's neat that I can now have a story element as part of my revenue.

Some examples:

Is It A Sin To Buy A Mac [jackwhispers.com] Devil Inside ~ INXS

How To Avoid An Auction Scam Without Really Trying [jackwhispers.com] eBay ~ Weird Al Yankovic

What Kon Man! [jackwhispers.com]Confunkshunizeya ~ Con Funk Shun

I really appreciate that Apple has now made me a part of the not only the downloading process but the true sharing process. Because sharing does involve some form of compensation or benefit. :)

Re:*WARNING* not a secure form!

[94229a]

If the SSN is anything like a SIN, then I think you do need to provide it.

I have to give my SIN out for anything that pays me money. My employer gives me paychecks, the bank pays me interest and the affiliate program gives me commission cheques. That institution is responsible for telling Revenue Canada I've made money -- and Revenue Canada doesn't want my name, it needs my SIN as well.

So the institution is required by law to have my SIN. There are supposed to be severe restrictions on how they use that number though.

Re:Canada still too cold for AAC quality music

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would anyone in canada be stupid enough to use the iTunes store, when its legal to download?

We already pay music industry tax, no point paying twice.

Re:I don't quite understand...

[bitrott]

If that's the case, this sounds more like a way to get PC users to install iTunes than to actually sell songs. A bit on the sleazy side, isn't it Apple?


How is that sleazy? The end user was clicking to buy the song and would have to use the client necessary to play that song. It's not exactly spyware here folks. It's money in exchange for goods and services. To take advantage of that service, you have to download a really excellent media player.