In what could be viewed as enlisting an army in their war, Amazon has called upon their affiliate program to help spread the word of their MP3 store.

Amazon.com runs the largest known affiliate program on the web and, as of this last Monday, they know have a huge incentive to tell the world about the online retailer’s music store. 

Until December 31st of this year, Amazon affiliates will be earning 20% on all MP3 referrals.  After the end of the year the commission will drop to 10%, but that is still well above the normal amounts affiliates earn.  With some of their prices as low as $.89 for the top songs, and giving out nearly $.18 of that to an affiliate, apparently money is not a concern at this time in these early days of the war.

Amazon’s targeting of taking on the entire market is fairly clear.  By choosing to go with the MP3, DRM-free route, they didn’t lock themselves down to any one player.  And while Apple has expanded their DRM-free offerings, they are still in the AAC format, limiting the choices of how they can be played.

With Universal’s announcement of a music store in the works, the battlefield is sure to get bloody as these titans of various industries rage their war.  For now, it is debatable if the consumer is a victim or a victor.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12:12 pm under Apple, Music.

Read more entries by Sean P. Aune.
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