Buried inside YouTube’s large CSS file are two very interesting images found by the blog Googlified – one is a button for the iTunes Store, the other for Amazon’s MP3 store. These seem to indicate that YouTube is gearing up to become what amounts to an affiliate seller for these two stores.
If that is the case, it’s a very smart move on Google’s part. YouTube is the medium by which many people watch music videos and musical performances – as of right now if someone likes a song they would have to remember the name of it, open their music store of choice and search for it. These buttons will provide one-click access to purchases, which you can be sure will drive more sales.
Traffic on YouTube has been surging while digital music sales were up 40% in 2007. The two combined could equal a lot of affiliate sales for Google in 2008 with these buttons.
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