Slashdot Mirror


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."

18 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So... by vijayiyer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Note that they don't pay you until you've accumulated $25 in commission, meaning you don't get anything until there are 506 purchases made.

  2. Re:So... by suckmysav · · Score: 5, Informative

    " This is basically a 5% discount on all iTunes music?"

    Well, if you purchased the music for yourself and you bought over a thousand songs each month then I guess it would be, yes.

    FIn most cases though, I expect it would represent a 5% kickback to any site owner who could generate 1000 clickthrus that culminate in a purchase, which is quite a bit different.

    --
    "You can't fight in here, this is the war room!"
  3. Re:So... by Neko-kun · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, It means that you, the re-seller, gets a five percent cut out of every song you sell.

    In other words, Apple is allowing webmasters to have links on their websites that when a visitor clicks on it, iTunes will open up to the album page ready for the visitor to buy it.

    Say for example,

    "Hey peeps, I was listening to this one album the other day, and it was really nice. if you want to buy it so you can share my amazement, click here"

    All an affiliate would be doing would be reffering more would-be customers to the iTMS.

  4. Must be done in IE by enjoilax · · Score: 4, Informative

    Using FF .9.3 and will not register, did it with IE, sorry all.

  5. Re:subject by theKinkyRabbit · · Score: 5, Informative

    You put a banner on your site, pointing to the iTMS. When someone clicks it and then buys something within the next 24 hours, you get a percentage of the transaction.
    This has been working for a long time with the Apple Store, the fact that it now works with the iTMS too is the news bit.

    --
    Life isn't a bitch. Life is a virgin. A bitch is easy.
  6. Re:So... by aka-ed · · Score: 4, Informative
    No, it means that an affiliate cannot (for instance) make statements that might be construed as Apple policy statements, unless so authorized; the songs sold on Itunes do not belong to Apple (they're licensed), so are not covered by this.

    --
    I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
  7. Re:FAQ? by aka-ed · · Score: 2, Informative
    Have you ever been in an affiliate program? As a general rule you can sign up and never participate, no one cares. Why should they?

    --
    I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
  8. Re:In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    To the moderator who rated this offtopic: did you even understand what the comment was about? Have you forgotten about the amazon spammer already? Sheesh!

  9. Re:SSN + No encryption = ??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The form submission is encrypted so no worries.

  10. Re:Beginning of a Revolution? by smclean · · Score: 2, Informative
    See also:

    AudioScrobbler

    --

    "'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."

  11. Re:*WARNING* not a secure form! by Accipiter · · Score: 4, Informative

    The form action itself is on an https connection. It's encrypted. Stop worrying.

    --

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
    (If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't. :P)

  12. Re:*WARNING* not a secure form! by incog8723 · · Score: 2, Informative

    they expect people to enter their social security number....

    Don't enter it. If the script demands it, put in all zeroes. If it still rejects it, put in all nines. If it still then rejects it, browse to epitonic.com, emusic.com, or mp3.com, or many other thousands of free mp3 music collections. Browse by area even. I live in Nashville. Go to a fucking live show, for godssakes. There are literally thousands of them here. I would bet there are at least two or three in your locale.

    The point is, your Social Security Number is YOUR PRIVATE information. You don't have to give it to ANYONE, *unless* you are dealing with social security benefits. Goodbye.

  13. Re:*WARNING* not a secure form! by marauder404 · · Score: 4, Informative
    Don't enter it. ... If it still then rejects it, browse to epitonic.com, emusic.com, or mp3.com, or many other thousands of free mp3 music collections ... Go to a fucking live show, for godssakes ... The point is, your Social Security Number is YOUR PRIVATE information. You don't have to give it to ANYONE, *unless* you are dealing with social security benefits. Goodbye.
    Apple doesn't use the SSN. It's submitted to LinkShare, who holds onto it. They want it so that when they pay you a commission, the information about payments made to you or your company are properly submitted to the IRS. This has absolutely nothing to do with buying music. If you want to be paid as an affiliate, they need to report your earnings to the IRS. As you probably know, anything you submit to the IRS is tagged with your name and SSN.
  14. Re:So... by ColdGrits · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, that is incorrect.

    The $ DO accumulate over the months. Check the FAQ. It was linked from the original article.

    --
    People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
  15. Re:*WARNING* not a secure form! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    While the form itself is not secure, the SUBMISSION of the form is... when you hit the submit button, your data gets sent to https://ssl.linksynergy.com/php-bin/blahblah... the submission is the important part!

  16. Re:NO SSL by finkployd · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's not how it works my friend.
    Your data was secure, let me explain.

    Your browser downloaded the website with the form on it over a clear channel, and displayed it in your browser. So far no problem.

    Then you entered your personal data into the form on the website, which so far only exists in your computer's memory, none of that data was ever sent over the network until you pressed submit.

    Once you pressed submit, your browser opened a secure connection to the url you posted and sent the data from the form to it. Never in this transaction was your data sent over the network in the clear.

    Granted this is still a confusing move on Apple's part. The convention is usually to encrypt both the url with the form AND the url it is being submitted to. The first step is totally unnecessary from a security perspective, but it reassures people who think it is only safe to enter data if they see "https" on the form url.

  17. Re:Looking forward to it by savetz · · Score: 2, Informative

    Blatant self-promotion: If you like MusicMobs, you may also like TunesTracker. Tell it your favorite artists, and it will send you an e-mail alert whenever the iTunes Music Store has new songs by that artist.

    And yeah, I'll be using the iTMS affiliate program for TunesTracker.

  18. Not for individuals in the UK by carou · · Score: 2, Informative
    It would have been nice for Apple to make this clearer, but - at least as far as UK residents are concerned - individuals are not allowed to join this scheme, because of LinkShare Terms and Conditions: (their capitals, not mine)

    Member Qualifications

    In order to join or use any Network as a Network Affiliate, you must be a corporation, limited partnership, limited liability company or other form of business organization that has an independent legal existence or, solely in the case of any Network other than the UK Network, an individual who is at least of the age required in order to be competent to enter into contracts under the laws of the jurisdiction in which you reside (and, in any event, at least eighteen years old). INDIVIDUALS MAY NOT JOIN OR USE THE UK NETWORK.

    IN ADDITION, YOU MAY USE ANY LINKSHARE NETWORK ONLY FOR A BUSINESS PURPOSE AND NOT FOR Any PERSONAL, HOUSEHHOLD OR FAMILY PURPOSE; THE BUSINESS THAT YOU CONDUCT THROUGH ANY LINKSHARE NETWORK MUST BE YOUR PRIMARY BUSINESS OR AN INTEGRAL PART OF YOUR PRIMARY BUSINESS; AND YOUR USE OF ANY LINKSHARE NETWORK MUST BE INTEGRALLY RELATED TO SUCH BUSINESS.


    So no "5% off iTunes" purchases for me...