YouTube is moving to step up its efforts to generate revenue by adding e-commerce links that let users buy music and video games from the site. The new “click to buy” links that the company unveiled Tuesday are first being used to embed iTunes and Amazon.com links on videos from companies like EMI Music, and to provide Amazon.com links for the new video game Spore from Electronic Arts Inc.

The new program marks the latest attempt to generate revenue from YouTube since Google Inc. acquired the online video firm in 2006. Past efforts to include advertisements in videos met strong resistance from YouTube users. The retail links are gradually being added to YouTube’s music library, but are now only available to users in the U.S. The long-term goal is to add retail links for additional content and to add access for international users.

Source: Computerworld