What Are Music Affiliate Programs?

Music affiliate programs are much like any other online business affiliate program. In an affiliate program, music or otherwise, a business has a product or service to sell. The business creates special tracking links that an entrepreneur places on his or her website. When clicked, and if the clicker purchases anything, the affiliate makes a commission on the sale. Music affiliate programs are basically the same as any other affiliate program, but each program does differ in terms of how long a click is considered “live,” the commission payout, and the music selection.

To make money from music affiliate programs, an affiliate will typically make a website where he or she links to songs. For example, a blog that reviews new musicians can be used for this application, or a website that talks about a specific music genre or lists song lyrics. Even if the website has nothing to do with music, the affiliate program can still be used. When someone clicks the link leading to the song or album, and if that person makes a purchase, the affiliate makes money.

When someone clicks on the affiliate’s music link, there is generally a window of time in which the click is considered “live.” This means that for the designated time period after the click — often 24 hours but sometimes more or less — each time the person who clicked buys music, the affiliate makes a commission. After the time period expires, the click is considered “dead,” meaning the affiliate will make no money regardless of how much music the clicker eventually purchases.

Commission payouts are different for each of the music affiliate programs. Lesser known music websites tend to pay higher commissions because they are not making as much and want affiliates to help them make money. Larger and more well-known music websites tend to offer lower commissions for their music affiliate programs, because they are already gaining substantial revenue without affiliates. While joining a program that offers higher commission percentages may seem better, taking the amount of potential traffic into account is the best way to make money.

Each music website has its own range of licensed music that customers can download. Most of the music websites will have the same general pool of music, but each one will have some musicians that others don’t or will have an expansive library on a specific genre of music. Affiliates tend to mix and match affiliate programs to take advantage of the selection each music website offers.