The question of how labels and artists actually make money from YouTube has been a live issue in recent times, but Google's video-sharing site has just introduced another option.It's inserting click-to-buy links below selected videos, with music one of the first categories to get the treatment. So, if you watch the official video for Katy Perry's `I Kissed A Girl', there are buttons to buy the song from iTunes or Amazon.YouTube is also providing Amazon links for games like Electronic Arts' `Spore'. Google says “this is just the beginning of building a broad, viable e-commerce platform for users and partners on YouTube”. The initiative will apparently also work for user-generated videos – for example, bedroom cover versions of 'I Kissed A Girl' – but only if the rightsholder has 'claimed' them.
The full article is available to our subscribers only.
If you're a subscriber, you can login here
You can subscribe here (where there are options for monthly, twice-yearly, annual and trial subscriptions)
Posted in • News
