PRESENTING ARTIST-AUTHORED MESSAGES DIRECTLY TO USERS VIA A CONTENT SYSTEM

1 . A method for providing artist messages to listeners, comprising:

receiving a plurality of artist messages from client devices of a plurality of artists, each artist message including content created using the client device of the respective artist;

receiving from a client device of a listener a request for media items, the request including a seed value;

providing media items selected based on the seed value to the client device of the listener;

identifying a subset of the plurality of artist messages as eligible artist messages for the listener based on the media items provided to the client device of the listener;

scoring the eligible artist messages based on a relevance of the message to the listener;

selecting an eligible artist messages based on the scores; and

providing the selected artist message to the client device of the listener.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying a subset of the plurality of artist messages as eligible artist messages for the listener further comprises:

determining that the seed value indicates one of an artist or a media item by that artist; and

selecting as eligible artist messages those of the subset of the plurality of artist messages that are by that artist.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the scoring the plurality of eligible artist messages further comprises:

identifying feedback from the listener that is associated with an artist having an eligible artist message; and

scoring the eligible artist message based on the feedback.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering the eligible artist messages to remove artist messages, the filtering based on one or more criteria set for each eligible artist message by a corresponding artist.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein one of the criteria indicates that an artist message is to be presented to a user only when adjacent to a particular media item.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering the eligible artist messages to remove artist messages, the filtering based on a geographic location of the listener.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering the eligible artist messages to remove artist messages, the filtering based on a determination of whether the artist message has been previously provided to the listener within a period of time.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering the eligible artist messages to remove artist messages, the filtering based on a whether a particular media item is to be presented to the listener.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each artist message comprises:

a call to action comprising a link to be presented to the listener concurrently with the audio recording, the link adapted to perform an action when activated by the listener.

10 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions for providing artist messages to listeners, the instructions executable to perform steps comprising:

receiving a plurality of artist messages from client devices of a plurality of artists, each artist message including content created using the client device of the respective artist;

receiving from a client device of a listener a request for media items, the request including a seed value;

providing media items selected based on the seed value to the client device of the listener;

identifying a subset of the plurality of artist messages as eligible artist messages for the listener based on the media items provided to the client device of the listener;

scoring the eligible artist messages based on a relevance of the message to the listener;

selecting an eligible artist messages based on the scores; and

providing the selected artist message to the client device of the listener.

11 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the identifying a subset of the plurality of artist messages as eligible artist messages for the listener further comprises:

determining that the seed value indicates one of an artist or a media item by that artist; and

selecting as eligible artist messages those of the subset of the plurality of artist messages that are by that artist.

12 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the scoring the plurality of eligible artist messages further comprises:

identifying feedback from the listener that is associated with an artist having an eligible artist message; and

scoring the eligible artist message based on the feedback.

13 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , the steps further comprising:

filtering the eligible artist messages to remove artist messages, the filtering based on one or more criteria set for each eligible artist message by a corresponding artist.

14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein one of the criteria indicates that an artist message is to be presented to a user only when adjacent to a particular media item.

15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , the steps further comprising:

filtering the eligible artist messages to remove artist messages, the filtering based on a geographic location of the listener.

16 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , the steps further comprising:

filtering the eligible artist messages to remove artist messages, the filtering based on a determination of whether the artist message has been previously provided to the listener within a period of time.

17 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , the steps further comprising:

filtering the eligible artist messages to remove artist messages, the filtering based on a whether a particular media item is to be presented to the listener.

18 . The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein each artist message comprises:

a call to action comprising a link to be presented to the listener concurrently with the audio recording, the link adapted to perform an action when activated by the listener.