Apple widens access to iTunes

Electronics giant Apple is to give customers access to its music downloads via other websites, it announced today.

Other affiliated sites will offer direct links to songs and albums sold at the European iTunes Music Store.

They will earn commission on revenue generated by iTunes sales.

Apple said the service would “drive” even more customers to its online store.

The scheme has already been launched in the US where customers are directed to the Apple site via 15,000 affiliates.

Eddy Cue, vice-president of applications at Apple, said: “With over 15,000 iTunes affiliates in the US, the introduction of our affiliate program to Europe will drive even more customers to the worlds best online music store, while providing affiliate websites a quick and easy way to generate commissions.”

Since the iTunes Music Store was launched two years ago more than 400 million songs have been bought and downloaded worldwide.

It features songs from all four major music companies and over 1,000 independent record labels.