IDEA #61 - Music Affiliate JavaScript Blog Include
By Steve Poland • July 24, 2007
A simple script that anyone could grab and put in the HEAD of their blog/website (or install via a plugin for blogger/wordpress/typepad). Anytime there is an MP3 linked to on the page (and/or a band or song), a little ‘buy now’ icon appears next to the MP3 link (or the artist/band/song name turns into a link, if it isn’t already) and links to where you could buy that song via iTunes or eMusic or Amazon.com. Or maybe a little iTunes/eMusic/or Amazon.com icon (their favicon.ico).
You could extend this in the future so that if there is mention of a band/artist name on a webpage, a link appears next to it, which might open up a layer (like how snap.com gives a site preview) to display tour dates, bio/wiki info, ebay/Stubhub items for sale (using your affil link of course), and links to the band’s official website and myspace page.
Monetization occurs by being an affiliate of iTunes (via LinkShare I believe), eMusic, and Amazon.com.
Would avid music bloggers install it? Sure — just to provide all this extra available info to people. But Definitely, if they were getting a cut of the action. I don’t think there’s much action involved (isn’t it like $0.05 per song via iTunes that affiliates receive? Although eBay affil earnings are good) — and with affil programs from many vendors, tracking would be a bitch.
Comments
3 Responses to “IDEA #61 - Music Affiliate JavaScript Blog Include”
Got something to say?
checkout adaptiveblue’s smartlink which is basically the same concept. ...
There is a little manual manipulation involved, so it’s not as automatic as what you proposed, but it’s the same basic concept. Links to multiple shopping sites, as well as information.
Seems like a great idea to me, iTunes affiliate is 10% in the UK so if you linked to the album the song was from you might get some kickback.
When bloggers or podcasters post Promotracks from the IODA Promonet, we generate html code for buy clicks into iTunes, Emusic, etc. Unfortunately there is no way to programmatically generate a deep link into iTunes based on a UPC. So either you need to manually use a webtool everytime to get the deep link or somehow connect the UPC with the internal retailer (which we do by ingesting publish reports from iTunes and others into our systems).