YouTube expands click-to-buy links to Germany, Spain and Netherlands

Google has announced that it's expanding its click-to-buy YouTube programme to Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, as of today. That means music videos on those countries' local YouTube sites will have links for users to click through and buy the songs from Apple's iTunes Store.Google says that the links have been working well, citing the example of Monty Python, which launched an official YouTube channel in November, and saw the linked DVD's sales rocket 23,000% on Amazon, sending it to second place in the Movies & TV bestsellers list. So far, the links have only been available on YouTube's US and US sites.YouTube's partner labels (i.e everyone except WMG) will also be able to add the links to videos uploaded by YouTube users featuring their songs, as part of the Content ID system. Meanwhile, Google also says it's developing the way the links are displayed:”You may start to see click-to-buy links appearing as semi-transparent overlays that appear inthe bottom of the video for a short period of time,” says an announcement on the YouTube blog. “This increased visibility should help even more people take advantage of this program.”Finally, Google says it's expanding the click-to-buy links beyond music and DVDs soon [...]