COMING SOON TO A PC NEAR YOU: DOWNLOADS VIA YOUTUBE

YouTube is about to start selling music, and both the iTunes Stores and AmazonMP3 are already on board. The new venture marks YouTube’s first entry into the realm of ecommerce, as parent company Google tries to figure out how to monetize the enormously popular site. YouTube had 330 million visitors in August 2008, according to comScore.

"This is a first step towards building a broader ecommerce platform for content partners and users on YouTube," Google explained yesterday in announcing the new platform.

Here’s how it’ll work, according to Digital Music News reporter Alexandra Osorio: In a typical scenario, videos viewed within, for example, the EMI Music channel would be accompanied by purchase links, both from the iTunes Store and AmazonMP3. The two companies will share revenue with YouTube when users buy content through the partnership.

When it’s complete, the YouTube eCommerce Platform will include additional partners in the film, TV and publishing businesses, as well as the initial offerings of music and games.

The platform is being rolled out first in the U.S., though an international expansion will happen within months, according to the company.

The selling of downloads via links is but one of numerous potential revenue-generating concepts being explored, including various forms of advertising.

"There'll be lots of different solutions for lots of different problems," YouTube Director of Product Management Shishir Mehrotra said in an interview with Reuters. "We've tested a lot of things already, and we're going to be testing more in the future. Some will work, some won't.”