Work That Playlist: MP3 Download Affiliate Programs You Can Earn From

This Niche of the Week post is the result of a research I did to answer a question that was posted on the Comments section of my post on music affiliate programs : Are there profitable partner programs for free mp3 downloads?

Right off the bat, I wanted to say there aren't, except for ones that I already featured on that same post. But I wanted to be sure so I went looking for affiliate programs that deal in free MP3 downloads.

MP3 Music Download Keywords

I found that there are good keywords that you can target in this niche. Most are in the low to medium competition. The only problem is a large number are "free" music download keywords.

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If you try make the same keywords into keywords with buyer intent, the competition shoots up. One way to get around this is to target the name of the specific song, album, or music artist. The competition will still be high, though.

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MP3 Download Affiliate Program

The ClickBank Marketplace has hundreds of products belonging to several different niches. That certainly includes MP3 downloads, but not MP3 music downloads. Instead, you'll find downloads for hypnosis, lullabies, and affirmations — pretty much everything except current music.

I came across the following while looking at affiliate programs in the MP3 download niche: danosongs.com. For only USD $49.95, you can download 77 MP3 tracks that you can use as background music for your videos, presentation or web apps.

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This is not the MP3 download I had in mind for this week's niche, but it is an MP3 product. If you have a site about content creation, then you can promote this product on it and earn 30% commission for each sale.

Another product I came across in my research is RelaxingMusicSource.com. This is another site that offers MP3 downloads, but for relaxing music. The affiliate program is offered through ClickBank, though I am not able to locate it in the Marketplace. Affiliates receive a 70% commission for every sale.

There are so many relaxing music/hypnosis affiliate programs in ClickBank that it might be worth featuring them in another post. For now, let's check out the few MP3 download affiliate programs I was able to find.

eMusic

I've featured eMusic before in my post on music affiliate programs. eMusic works the same as iTunes, allowing you to browse through the music collection and download as you please. The only difference is that eMusic is a paid membership where you get a specific number of music downloads a month, depending on the type of subscription you have.

The affiliate program has not changed. It is still through Commission Junction, with a commission of USD $6 for every new trial member you refer.

iTunes

Possibly the most popular music download website right now, iTunes has an extensive collection of popular music that can be downloaded for a fee.

I've covered iTunes too, in the same music affiliate program post. The terms cover minimum threshold but no mention of how much affiliates earn for each referral. Affiliates are welcome to sign up to the program through the affiliate page.

Be Loud, Be Heard

Building links to your site and getting traffic to it is no easy feat. It's a necessary, formidable task. Having a few notes on what you'll do when you reach that point in your affiliate marketing project can make the entire process a little easier.

To that end, here are some methods I think are worth pursuing for a website on this niche:

Social Media Marketing

I like to think of social media marketing as a modern take on "word-of-mouth" advertising, where people comment on or pass around information about a product. But in the digital age, instead of everything being spoken, it's posted on public pages where everyone can read it. So even months or years later, those endorsements can still be found. 

Thousands, even millions, of people check social sites like Facebook and Twitter daily. Make sure to tap into this traffic source by creating a Facebook page or Twitter account for your site. Build followers and page likes. Share interesting articles from within your niche, or your site's own articles.

YouTube Marketing

YouTube is the biggest, most popular video-sharing site right now. It's a great website to promote MP3 download websites. You can create teasers of the tracks that can be downloaded from the MP3 site you're promoting, lasting about 30 seconds to a minute. Then place your affiliate link, or a link back to your site, in the video's description box.

It sounds easy, but there's a catch here. YouTube is tough on protecting copyright, so make sure to get permission from the vendor or merchant before doing this. Yes, there are people who can get away with uploading entire songs (complete with incorrect lyrics! ) on YouTube, but these accounts are eventually caught and closed.

Make sure to cover your bases, and think of other ways to promote on YouTube too: like sharing a quick, entertaining video on what music is for you, talking about where you get your music from, or creating a playlist of songs for a specific mood or theme. 

Reverse Engineering

This method is great for catching up with a competitor website and leveling the playing field, so to speak. Use an SEO application like Traffic Travis or AffiloTools to find the websites where your competitors have built their backlinks. Then, build backlinks on the same sites.

This doesn't necessarily mean your site will be ahead of the competition (you still have to worry about on-page optimization, social signals, and other factors), but it does help even it out. And it can get you ahead if you are able to add quality links to the ones you've already created.

MP3 Download Affiliate Programs: Save Or Delete Permanently?

This is not a niche that I would build a site for. The commissions I could earn do not justify the work involved in setting up the site, driving traffic to it, etc. There's also that problem with keywords: there are not a lot of keywords with buyer intent in this niche. Still, if this is something that you're interested in and want to try, go ahead. I suggest you have a good content and link building strategy written down before you go at it.

If you already have a music or music-related site that you want to monetize, the products on this niche are a perfect way to branch out.

I hope you found this week's Niche of the Week useful in your research. Please share this post using any of the Share buttons below!

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