How to Embed Grooveshark Widgets in WordPress.com January 4, 2011
Posted by ActiveEngine Sensei in ActiveEngine, Problem Solving.Tags: Grooveshark
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Readers of this blog will not that there many references to music, music that rocks. To share a secret, Sensei was once a band nerd. 
A drummer band nerd, the one that you never could sit next to during a test because Sensei could not stop tapping rudiments. To this day he is still shunned from meetings. Not a bad strategy when you want to leave and get things done!
Prior to 2010 ClearSpring made a widget that allowed you to insert a Grooveshark playlist or single song into a post. Here are a few different samples. In 2010 they announced that they would no longer support the widget platform, and, well, the widgets would be going away.
Come 1/1/2011 all the songs on this blog were gone. “What the …” you say. “How come I hear music playing now?” Well credit goes to Panos at WordPress Tips, who has a great post on how to use gigya code to embed flash objects into your posts.
Here are the steps you need to perform:
- Create your Grooveshark song widget. This can be a playlist or a single song. For our example we’ll do one song.
- Once you have saved your song, select “Get Embedded Code”. Note that the url will read something similar to this:http://widgets.grooveshark.com/finished?widgetid=23332943The parameter widgetid is the code you’ll want to copy, as this links you to your song.
- Past the following code into your post:
Don’t forget to change the widgetID code to match the code of your widget. You should see the result below:
For a playlist change your gigya code to match the following:
ActiveEngine 
Grooveshark says “No hotlinking please.” Pfff
But the widgets are still pretty sweet!
what this widget for?
The widget is the song player that Grooveshark offers so that you can place a song or song list on your blog. Here’s a link to Grooveshark widgets. I’ll update my post too.
Hi ActiveEngine! I want to put this widget on my blog [gigya src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="250" height="40" "hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=24551684&style=metal&p=0" wmode="window"] and it works because i can see the player, but it shows “no song found” and can’t play anything. What’s wrong? Thank you.
Looks like you have two issues:
First, you need to have flashvars= before the “hostname=cowbell.groove … So you should end up with:
[gigya src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="250" height="40" flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=24551684&style=metal&p=0" wmode="window"]
Second issue is your widgetID. Are you sure it’s correct? I tried in my widget and it says song not found. To make sure you are doing things correctly make a widget and use the widgetID from the song that I used as an example. That way you know that you have working widget and then you can figure out if you have the incorrect id. Hope this helps.
Yes, that’s helped me! Now the widget is working, and i can hear the song. Two issues resolved, I was writing the songID instead of the widgetID. Thank you so much 🙂
Cool. Glad it worked out. If you are looking for other ideas for embedding items in your post visit the WordPressTips link I listed above. Panos has some real good posts.
Sure! I’ve saved his blog. Thanks!
Can you make a text version of the gigya code for embedding playlists? How am I supposed to copy and paste this code if its an image not text?
I tried to but couldn’t get the code format correctly for the post. You can always view the html source for the page and grab the code from there.
I found your tips very helpful, thanx a lot!!
Glad they’re of use. Music does add a good flavor to posting and for a while I was worried I would lose a lot of my theme songs. Spread the word and enjoy.
I have the code correct, but I am confused as to where to put the code in my html post. do i just post it as is?
[gigya src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="250" height="40" flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=24551684&style=metal&p=0" wmode="window"]
…when i do that, nothing displays. or do i need to add a
first?thanks!
arielle,
I think you have an issue with the id. You try this link to verify:
http://widgets.grooveshark.com/finished?widgetid=23332943
This is a direct link to the Kindred Spirit widget I have on GrooveShark. When I substitute your widget id – 24551684 – I don’t get the song and the widget information is blank. Check that you saved your widget and that you got the embedded code as I described.
Let me know if you need more help and I can try to send you screen shots.
If all else fails, you can always just use my widget play DreamTheater 🙂
*do i need to add a
first?thanks, very helpful. i used this code for a songlist
[gigya src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/widget.swf" width="250" height="201"
flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=23408572&style=metal&bbg=993937&bfg=B81207&bt=5AA3A&bth=9939937&pbg=5AA3A0&pbgh=B81207&pfg=993937&pfgh=5AA3A0&silbg=5AA3A0&lbgh=B81207&lfg=993937@lfgh=5AA3A0&sb=B81207&p=0" allowScriptAccess="always"
wmode="window"]
Awesome. Another tip for you – if you set p=1 in the section “B81207&p=0″ allowScriptAccess=”always” the song will start automatically when your browser loads the page. Glad this worked out for you.
[…] kom lösningen. Extremt doomtack till Panos på WordPress tips som hade lösningen och till ActiveEngine som pekade mig rätt. You guys are […]
Hello, can anybody help? it seems not to be working for me, I am not sure what I could be doing wrong, I get the error: “embed_shortcode: is not a valid URL” when I preview the post. thank you
Can you send the entire code you’re trying – it makes it easier.
ok now I just tried to do it again and when previewed I was able to see the gs box but empty, with no play button or song (at least im not getting the error msg anymore… I’m trying [gigya src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="250" height="40" flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=23436989&style=metal&p=0" wmode="window"]
thanks again
I actually got it now! I think i just placed the wrong widgetID, thank you!
Is there anyway to embed a multitrack playlist (that you can forward from song to song) into a blog post?
Just make your widget with mulitple songs @ GrooveShark. The widget at the bottom of the post is a multiple track widget. It’s all done at GrooveShark.
[…] Publicado junio 19, 2011 Música Deja un Comentario Bueno, ya que por fin aprendí como empotrar un widget de Grooveshark en WordPress, este post va dedicado a un grupo llamado Tanimura Midnight. Digo grupo pero en […]
hi
when i click http://widgets.grooveshark.com/finished?widgetid=23332943 this link adress changes and becomes http://widgets.grooveshark.com/
is something changed with grooveshark? I copied the html code but there is no song. thank you for your help sensei
I am answering via iPhone and can’t verify if this a GrooveSkark issue. Can you try the songs on Pay the Rent with Rock page? If those work then the issue is with your code. I’ll take a look later on when I have my laptop in frot of me. Thanks in advsnce if this turns out to be a GrooveShark issue.
hi I can hear the first and last music but I couldnt hear the others.
May be there is a problem with my widgetID but I am writing what I see at the browser
my code is
[gigya src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/widget.swf" width="250" height="201"
flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=55789963src=5&style=metal&bbg=993937&bfg=B81207&bt=5AA3A&bth=9939937&pbg=5AA3A0&pbgh=B81207&pfg=993937&pfgh=5AA3A0&silbg=5AA3A0&lbgh=B81207&lfg=993937@lfgh=5AA3A0&sb=B81207&p=0" allowScriptAccess="always"
wmode="window"]
and what I see at the browser is http://grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Dsea/55789963 so I write as widgetID 55789963
Thank you for your help sensei
Sorry I haven’t responded. I take a look this evening.
Unfortunately, they closed the site to create a widget. And the html code they give you on grooveshark. com doesn’t work with wordpress.com 😦 By chance, do you know an alternative way to embed the html code that you find on grooveshark. com on a post (I’m talking about wordpress.com, the free one, and a single song in a single post.)
p.s. Excuse me if I haven’t explained myself clearly, I’m Italian and my English is dreadful.
I’ll haves to research this a bit this evening. You and tunahsn149 may have discovered something that affects the widget creation. The strange thing is that my current songs still play. I’ll let you know what I find out.
Hi, tank you so much for answer me. Yes, the same thing is happening on my blog. I can still hear the songs embedded in the ‘old way’
Anyway, a guy from the wordpress.com forum suggested me this solution:
– Go to grooveshark.com and copy the widget code of the song you want to embed (you can find it by clicking in the “sharing” button of the song)
– Now, from the original grooveshark widget code, cut the part which begins with the word “hostname” and ends with the word “window”.
-Paste the part you cut in the following gygia code, replacing the three XXX
[gigya src="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="250" height="40" flashvars="XXX" ]
– Embed on your blog editor (not in the html page) the final result.
And it works. Or at least, it partially works. I mean, that with the old ID song’s number that I was used to get in the now closed site, I was able to embed as many songs I wanted into a single post, without any problem. Now, if I embed more than 2 songs the buffering never ends. I’m not expert, but I think it’s because the ID song’s number featured in the widget code you can get from grooveshark.com is different from the one that was featured in the code that I used to get in the closed widget website.
We are talking about it on the forum:
en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/embed-grooveshark-widget-into-a-post?replies=6#post-635169
(I omit the Initial http:// because I don’t know if links are allowed here)
If you find out something better, please let me know.
Bye, and and forgive me If I haven’t explained myself clearly.
Thanks for the research. I’ll try this out and see what happens.
I did some experimentation and found that code from GrooveShark now uses songId instead of widgetid. I used that instead and the widget seemed to work. I have to play with this some more before I update my instructions. Thanks again for contacting me – your research has really helped out.
Thanks, this actually works amazingly fine 🙂
Working here:
You’re welcome, and excuse me again for any mistakes, as I said, my english is something poor. XD I’ll check your site to see if you find a better solution. Bye, and thank you.
The only thing you’ve to do is change “widgetID=” to “playlistID=” (playlist widget) or “songID=” (song widget). Here’s mine:
[gigya src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/widget.swf" width="200" height="250"
flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&playlistID=56487835&bbg=3b2a19&bth=3b2a19&pfg=3b2a19&lfg=3b2a19&bt=bd934f&pbg=bd934f&pfgh=bd934f&si=bd934f&lbg=bd934f&lfgh=bd934f&sb=bd934f&bfg=d9d8d5&pbgh=d9d8d5&lbgh=d9d8d5&sbh=d9d8d5" allowScriptAccess="always"
wmode="window"]
Aweaome! I have to update the post to reflect this. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
waoo that was really helpful…and all the comments end up helping me build my grooveshark playlist widget…thanks =D
[gigya src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/widget.swf" width="250" height="201"
flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&playlistID=51379082&bbg=2ba66f&bth=2ba66f&pfg=2ba66f&lfg=2ba66f&bt=FFFFFF&pbg=FFFFFF&pfgh=FFFFFF&si=FFFFFF&lbg=FFFFFF&lfgh=FFFFFF&sb=FFFFFF&bfg=666666&pbgh=666666&lbgh=666666&sbh=666666&p=0" allowScriptAccess="always"
wmode="window"]
Really really helpfull! Thanks a lot! ^^
Glad this helped. I really struggled when I couldn’t include music with my posts and once I discovered how to keep it rolling I wanted to spread the word. Feel free to borrow these instructions and post a “how-to” on your blog so we can spread the GrooveShark love.
I host WordPress on my own server, if I edit a post in html mode and paste any of your code it will be displayed on the blog later on only as plain text, no widget is loaded at all.
If I used the code Groovershark provides me there is just a blank field, looks like the JS won’t load
How can I fix this or do I need to install any plugin?
The standard Grooveshark widget can work with WordPress hosted on servers. In other words, WordPress.com requires the use of the gigya code, where as your own WordPress setup should be able to use the embedded for WordPress that Grooveshark provides. My post is just for the WordPress.com blogs and is not meant for your situation. Since you are hosting yourself I would imagine that you have greater flexibility.
If you don’t mind my asking, why did you elect to hosting WordPress yourself?
@Hivemind: Sorry if I’ve misunderstood, my english is not perfect. I don’t know about servers, but remember that the modified code must be paste not in the html page but as a normal text. At least with wordpress.com it works.
Great post man, it really helped me out. I was getting crazy cause anything seemed to work. The post was really helpful! Cheers 😀
awesome! thanks.
Go forth and embed your widgets!