A little while back we rolled out a new little feature on the Record Union site which enables you to add “buy links” to the music you have published. We have been getting quite a few emails from people asking about how to set these up so we thought we would do a post on what these do and how you can use them. So, here we go!

The purpose of these links

It can sometimes be tricky to seamlessly display your music, track previews and links your albums locations on a range of different music services directly on your website or other online locations. If you have experienced this then linking to your Record Union profile with the “find music here” info filled it could be a good solution for you.

How to add them

Firstly, log in and head over to your “manage content” page - when you click on one of your releases you will see some information displayed. At the bottom you will see some logos and fields where you can paste the URL location of your music on these services.

Obtaining the URL links is pretty straightforward.

For a browser based services like Amazon MP3 you would just search and locate your music on the service - once on your album you can then copy the URL in your browser and paste it into the field next to the Amazon logo on the Manage Content page.

For client based services like Spotify and iTunes you would do pretty much the same thing - however, as the URL is not displayed in these services like in a browser window you would instead right-click on your album and then “Copy HTTP Link” (Spotify) or “Copy Link” (iTunes) and like before paste this into the relevant field on the manage content page.

In conclusion

So, we hope this will be a good reference for those who have not used these buy links yet. This is the first of a range of features we plan to add. We always welcome any suggestions you may have for new functionality so don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have some to propose.

Amazon have recently launched a new service called Artist Central which is designed to help artists and labels promote their music on the Amazon store. As an artist or label you are now able to add extra content to your artist page(s), such as a biography, pictures and even upload MP3s to offer as free downloads and full length streaming. Other cool features include customizable store banners, a twitter feed and a space to embed your videos. Check the profile for Band of Horses for to see these in action.

Getting set up is pretty straightforward. It just a matter of claiming your profile, which you can do by signing in to Artist Central with your Amazon account. If you don’t already have an Amazon account, you can go ahead and create one for free. Claims are usually approved within a matter of days. Once the claim has gone through you can go ahead and use these new features to jazz up your profile. All in all, we think Amazon have provided a valuable set of tools which help you connect to listeners in a more dimensional way, ultimately helping you increase your sales and exposure via the Amazon Store. We wish you the best of luck.