Question about iTunes affiliate program

**gavinjones** · 22-06-09

Hi all,

Does anyone know whether or not it's possible to create affiliate links that feed a query to itunes and take users to the search results page for that query? For example, I might have a page on my site about Britney Spears and want to have an affiliate link that does a query on itunes for "Britney Spears" versus sending the user to a specific page within itunes. Is this possible?

Thanks,
Gavin

**sasquatch** · 22-06-09

Good Q, I was wanting to know this too..

**foxtucker** · 16-02-10

Anyone at iTunes GB / Tradedoubler or iTunes USA / Linkshare have an answers. I know that this question has been asked a few times over the past 3 years, but still it's yet to be answered.

**hobbsy** · 17-02-10

+1

This is something I've wanted for ages

I think a few years ago when I asked TD/iTunes they said it wasn't possible

You have to manually create each deeplink to an artist using the tool (which is not really viable if you have a dynamic Wordpress site of thousands of categories)

This was a few years a go though so things might have changed since (?)

**JesseP** · 30-01-11

Hi All -
Yeah, this is very possible. Use a link like this -

Code:

http://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?submit=edit&term=pearl%20jam

and simply affiliate encode with the aff. network redirect.

E.g. -

Code:

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=8i/ET44NjHw&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fax.search.itunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fsearch%253Fsubmit%253Dedit%2526term%253Dpearl%252520jam%250A

We end up using these search links with our GeoRiot service when ever we can't create a perfect link translation for a product in one country's store to another. They convert much better then just dropping a user at the front door in iTunes.

**Seamaster** · 30-01-11

I didn't know Itunes had an affiliate programme. Is it worldwide or just UK?

I.e. can the buyer be based anywhere?

**JesseP** · 30-01-11

Originally Posted by Seamaster

I didn't know Itunes had an affiliate programme. Is it worldwide or just UK?

I.e. can the buyer be based anywhere?

Excellent question, and one that sits at the heart of the project I'm working on now.

The short answer is "no."

There are two factors why:

1.) Each country's iTunes Store is it's own unique store (think digital rights licensing). Therefore a link that works for a person based in the UK (w/ a UK iTunes account) probably won't work for the person based in the US (w/ a US based iTunes account). The link most likely results in the US based clicker getting an error. Bottom line here is that a link needs to be specific for the store from which the user is coming.

2.) Each country's store has it's own affiliate program. The US iTunes affiliate program is administered by LinkShare and will not commission on sales in the UK and TradeDoubler (who manages the 14 separate programs in Europe) won't commission on sales that happen in the Australian store. Etc.

There are approximately 19 countries that have an iTunes affiliate program. On top of that there are 4 separate affiliate networks that manage these programs (LinkShare, TradeDoubler, DGM Pro and LinkShare Japan).

This was exactly the issue that lead me to start this project I'm working on at the moment.

GeoRiot (Capitalize on your Global iTunes Affiliate Traffic - GeoRiot) is a redirect service that takes a user who has clicked on your affiliate link (iTunes specifically for now), from inside your site or app, to an appropriate landing page inside their country's store with the relevant affiliate tracking (ensuring a good user experience and the possibility to earn a commission). This is done in three steps. The service detects where the user is coming from, translates the deep link they clicked to work for their home country's iTunes Store then encodes the link with the affiliate tracking parameters that are specific the user's country.

...and so the long answer is "yes."