Yes!

First, the bad news: Most email programs can't play audio or video files directly (a plugin or another program is required), and so this content is often stripped from emails completely. Spam filters can also get tripped up on the code required to display videos and block emails from being delivered.

The good news is that there are a few ways you can get music and videos to your subscribers. Read on for more details.

Music

AutoConnect Templates

If you're a band or label with songs or artists on iTunes, check out our iTunes AutoConnect template. We'll pull artist and song info directly from iTunes and put them in your campaign. We also have an Amazon AutoConnect template to pull product information for a book (or music album) sold on Amazon. To access the AutoConnect templates:

  1. In Step 3 of the Campaign Builder (Step 4 for RSS-to-Email and A/B Split campaigns), select the Auto-Connect category on the left side to see the various Auto-Connect templates.
  2. Choose the template you'd like and follow the prompts to insert information into the campaign. For Amazon, use the artist name as the author to locate albums by that artist.

Link to .mp3 or other music/media files

You can host your music file on your own server, and add a link for that file to your campaign, or let us host it for you and link to the hosted file instead.

Videos

Auto-convert your embedded videos

Do you have Videos embedded in your content? If so, our auto-convert option is the easiest and quickest way to properly display them in your campaign. Give it a shot here.

Video Merge Tags

If you don't already have embedded videos (or, oops, are having problems with auto-convert) our video merge tags make it super easy to create a screenshot of a video and link to it right in your campaign. So, if you want to include a link to a video hosted on Vimeo, YouTube, Blip.tv, Vzaar, or Wistia, we have the merge tags to save you time. Video merge tags automatically generate a screenshot of the embedded video player in your campaign which will be linked to the standard location of the video online. The video won't play directly in the email since it's just a screenshot - instead, the video will open and play in a normal web browser window when clicked. The screenshot is complete with the standard play button and progress bar used by each service and appears ready to play.

Here's the most basic format for the video merge tags:

*|SERVICE:[$vid=XXXX]|*

where SERVICE will be replaced with the service name where your video is hosted, and XXXX is the unique identifier for the video. For most, the unique identifier is at the end of the URL for the video. Here's a list of the service names for the merge tags and how to find the id for your video:

  • BLIPTV
    • To find the unique video identifier for a Blip.tv video, select the share option to get the embed code for the video. Look for iframe src= in the embed code, and the unique identifier comes just after that. For example, the video id would be AYLljHwC in the following embed code:

    <iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLljHwC.html?p=1" width="550" height="339" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLljHwC" style="display:none"></embed>

  • VIMEO
    • Use the number at the end of the link. For example 6223439 in this link:

    http://vimeo.com/6223439

  • VZAAR
    • You'll want to get your VZAAR unique id, typically at the end of the URL. For example, 344767 in:

    http://view.vzaar.com/344767.flashplayer

  • WISTIA
    • Make sure your video is public, and grab the identifier from the link that can be shared. For example mcLUn in:

    http://home.wistia.com/m/msLUn

  • YOUTUBE
    • Use the ID at the end of the URL. For example, fj77lSG6Bl8 in:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj77lSG6Bl8


Additional options for video merge tags

You can use the basic merge tag for any of the video services, and we'll take care of everything for you. But if you want more control over how the screenshot is displayed, we have some additional parameters that can be included. Some services don't support all of the options, though, so check out the chart below to see whether the options are available with the service you're using.

Here's an example YouTube merge tag with all of the parameters for the YouTube tag specified:

*|YOUTUBE:[$vid=fj77lSG6Bl8, $max_width=300, $ratings=N, $views=N, $border=N, $title=N, $trim_border=N]|*
$max_width
The width of the screenshot, in pixels. Defaults to the width of the screenshot provided by YouTube. Maximum value is 450. Can only be used to reduce the screenshot size.
$title
Y/N value. Defaults to Y to display the video title. If set to N the title won't be shown.
$border
Y/N value. Defaults to Y to wrap the screenshot with an HTML border. If set to N, no border will be added.
$trim_border
Y/N value. Defaults to Y to trim white/black space from the screenshot. If set to N no trimming will be done to the screenshot.
$ratings
Y/N value. Defaults to Y to display the number of stars a video has received ("Likes" for Vimeo). If set to N these won't be shown.
$views
Y/N value. Defaults to Y to display the number of views a video has received. If set to N these won't be shown.
$watch_URL
A Wistia-specific option to specify the URL for tracking how your subscribers interact with the video. More details can be found here.

Which services support which options?

Not all of the tags support all of the parameters. This handy chart identifies which services support each optional parameter.

Service max_width title border trim_border ratings views watch_url
BLIPTV yes yes yes yes no no no
VIMEO yes yes yes yes yes no no
VZAAR yes yes yes yes no no no
WISTIA yes yes yes yes no no yes
YOUTUBE yes yes yes yes yes yes no

Examples

Blip.tv

*|BLIPTV:[$vid=XXX]|*|BLIPTV:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, ]|*
On the left, just the video id is provided: *|BLIPTV:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the right, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|BLIPTV:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N]|*

Vimeo

*|VIMEO:[$vid=XXX]|**|VIMEO:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $ratings=N]|*
On the left, just the video id is provided: *|VIMEO:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the right, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|VIMEO:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $ratings=N]|*

Vzaar

*|VZAAR:[$vid=XXX]|**|VZAAR:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N]|*
On the left, just the video id is provided: *|VZAAR:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the right, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|VZAAR:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N]|*

Wistia

*|WISTIA:[$vid=XXX]|**|WISTIA:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $watch_url=http://mailchimp.wistia.com/m/6f2zqA]|*
On the left, just the video id is provided: *|WISTIA:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the right, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|WISTIA:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $watch_url=http://mailchimp.wistia.com/m/6f2zqA]|*

YouTube

*|YOUTUBE:[$vid=XXX]|**|YOUTUBE:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $ratings=N, $views=N]|*
On the left, just the video id is provided: *|YOUTUBE:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the right, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|YOUTUBE:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $ratings=N, $views=N]|*

Note

You might be used to video merge tags that look like this: *|YOUTUBE:xxxx:max_width|* - these will continue to work, but you should use the tags above for new campaigns and templates.

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