YouTube, which has nailed the science of online video sharing, is now getting into online shopping by partnering with the likes of Amazon.com and iTunes.

The shop links will be just below the YouTube clips and will eventually sell a wide variety of items and merchandise related to the millions of clips on the site including: MP3s, TV shows, movies, concert tickets, books, maybe, even buy the designer sunglasses your favorite star is wearing in a clip. 

So soon you’ll be able to buy the Michael Jackson song playing in the background while watching the hilarious clip of Filipino prisoners doing their reenactment of the ’Thriller’ video. 

How will YouTube know if it’s a Michael Jackson song? Executives told Reuters they have a pretty nifty video and audio ID system that helps identify songs and video clips. If the song publisher or movie producer wants they can jointly share in the revenue from the advertising generated around such content.

Keep an eye on:

• Troubled New Jersey newspaper The Star-Ledger will not be sold after one of its unions agreed to concessions (Reuters)
• John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and EMI Records have dropped copyright infringement lawsuits against documentary makers for using ‘Imagine’ (Reuters)
•  Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown has teamed up with media mogul Barry Diller’s IAC to launch a new glossy mag-style website called The Daily Beast (New York Times)

(Photo: Reuters)