12th
Is Apple Moving iTunes to a Web Store?
As you may know, I founded a web property called The DJ List - Worldwide Directory of DJs and Dance Music. I recently have been working with the iTunes affiliate program and have indexed some 15k albums for DJs on The DJ List in the past few weeks.
Yesterday in working with the affiliate program and links, I witnessed a significant change in Apple’s iTunes site - a move to a web based store - away from that of installed app.
A few days ago, any affiliate link to an iTunes product would simply render a launch/re-direction page that would open the the album page inside of the iTunes app and take you back to the publisher site. It flashed a brief message saying opening iTunes with a quick display of the album logo as well.
As of yesterday, this has changed. Take a look at the following page for Above & Beyond’s new Anjunabeats album.
A complete web based product profile for the album, complete with; album details, tracklist, reviews, customers also bought, etc.
Additionally, there are very SEO optimized links to artist pages. Here’s an example Artist Profile URL:
“http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/above-beyond/id20318188”
I imagine the SEO album pages are not all that far off. This will be of significant impact to results in the search world in the months ahead.
Apple now has a web based store. Amazon, et al. pay close attention to Apple future moves. The impact will be felt across all product offerings in the iTunes store.
A few additional points:
- I’m saddened that the links no longer redirect to my site. I will miss out on valuable traffic.
- Are iTunes affiliate links now being tracked/credited at the web url destination?
