Macstories:

Today, Apple announced that it is reducing the commissions it pays on apps and In-App Purchases from 7% to 2.5% effective May 1st. The iTunes Affiliate Program pays a commission from Apple’s portion of the sale of apps and other media when a purchase is made with a link that contains the affiliate credentials of a member of the program. Anyone can join, but the Affiliate Program is used heavily by websites that cover media sold by Apple and app developers.

While the percentage remains at 7% for movies, music, and books, this does nothing but hurt small publishers, some of who rely on these revenues from Apple’s affiliate program. It means some sites may not be able to continue or will be forced to increase the number of affiliate links to make up the difference. Apple still takes their 30% from developers (affiliate revenues came out of Apple’s share), so this means Apple makes more money and users of affiliate links make significantly less.