Pandora is giving artists a direct way to communicate with -- and, naturally, market themselves -- to listeners on the internet radio service.

The new messaging system is called, simply, Artist Messaging, and according to Pandora CEO Tim Westergren, who originally unveiled plans for the system in February, the service will allow artists of all sizes to make targeted announcements to their fans.

"You're in a band and you decide to stop in Portland tomorrow night to play an impromptu show," he said during the Code/Media conference, as reported by Billboard. "Pull out your smartphone, log into your Pandora AMP (artist messaging platform) account, zoom into Portland and check out your audience there. And then record a 15-second audio sample that says… we're playing in Portland, we hope to see you there."

The plan is also a relatively easy way for Pandora to satiate the labels it works with, who, by and large, aren't fans of the way the company constantly maneuvers for lower royalty rates.

The launch of the service appears to be close on the horizon. Pandora recently notified their users that as of June 30, their terms of service had been updated to allow users to receive the artist messages.

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