A few weeks ago I sparked the conversation on Internet Music Marketing, or how musicians need to start thinking like the Internet Marketing crowd in order to really capture data and sell their music online. What sparked was a really cool conversation on promoting other people’s stuff via affiliate marketing. This is by no means the official guide, but a way to make some money by promoting offers to your fans via your mailing list or your blogs, Twitter accounts, etc.

As with all marketing, this is best used in a transparent mode (read the new FTC stuff by Frank Kern, who was sued for millions by them a few years back), and used in moderation. Just because a few people bought something from an affiliate link, doesn’t mean you need to star over stuffing your emails and blog posts with them.
The Major League Affiliate Networks

This post will feature 2 networks and I aim to continue to work with music companies to get their affiliate info. The overall data will be inside Label 2.0 (sorry, need to give preference to those that put food on my table). We will be looking into iTunes and Amazon and how you can use their expansive network and product catalog to make some extra change.
iTunes Affiliate Program

Sign up to becom an iTunes affilaite here. It is super easy and done through LinkShare (affiliate link), a reputable affiliate marketing company that is known for paying its affiliates on time and tracking your stats pretty aggressively. The notion of the iTunes affiliate program is that you can link to albums, singles, movies, ringtones and really anything else in their marketplace and make 5% on all transaction. This means if you sell an album for $9.99 you will generate about 50 cents. Not exactly retirement money, but get creative and grow your audience, and the residuals can add up. Signing up for the iTunes program may take a few days for approval.

Check out a FAQ here.
Amazon Affiliate Program

Amazon was one of the pioneers in online affiliate marketing and is essentially how they grew to the size they are. With their affiliate program, you can link to digital singles and albums, physical CD’s, books to guitars and musical instruments along with the millions of other products they offer. Amazon pays commissions directly and has a tiered commission structure, meaning the more you sell the higher your commission. You start at 4% and can easily work your way to 6% and higher by gaining a few sales. Again, this may not be the money to retire on, but in the following idea session part of the blog post, you may be able to get gas money for your next road trip.

Sign-up to be an affiliate on Amazon here (disclosure: Affiliate link)
How to Use These Affiliate Programs for Your Music

Now that you are signed up to the top 2 networks you need to start putting the links in your content, in a very usable and trustworthy way. In this tutorial we are going to use Amazon as they offer a wider range of products and the ideas can be structured for all of them.
Campaign Ideas

The first step is to generate an idea of what you want to promote. Some things off the top of the mind include:

Your gear – Talk about the guitars you use, why you use it, the sound it gives you, etc. At the end of the post say something like, if you want to try it out, here’s a link to grab one yourself.

Bands of a bill – This is the easiest and most efficient. When you have an upcoming show, do quick reviews on the bands you are playing with. Maybe a few sentences on why you are excited to play with them, some pics and maybe a YouTube video. Tell your fans that if they want to check out their music and start learning the lyrics before the show, grab a digital download here and thus link to their album on Amazon. This will get your fans excited about the show if the other bands are cool too and helps promote the other acts and they may return the favor.

Bands of a bill on Twitter – Fire out a Tweet or two saying something to the tune of: “Can’t wait to rock with XYZ Band this Friday – Insert Affiliate Link”

Sidebar links – If your band has a blog (Music Marketing 101) use the sidebar as a place to promote stuff you believe in, from music to gear to great books you read on a road trip. Your fans are interested in the stuff you do and these links can get a good amount of attention. The best part is that if they click on a link to buy something and end up buying something else during that visit, you get credit for that sale as well!

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