Relevant content to enhance a streaming media experience

Abstract

A method, system and apparatus of relevant content to enhance a streaming media experience are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes selecting a media content from a content database having content of a plurality of artists and media labels based on a request of a user of a social community environment, automatically selecting a relevant content related to the media content from at least one of a user generated content library and a professional content library based on match between a meta-data associated with the media content and the relevant content, streaming the media content from a central server associated with the central content database to the user without requiring consideration of the user to access the media content, and displaying the relevant content to the user when the media content is being streamed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 selecting a media content from a content database having content of a plurality of artists and media labels based on a request of a user of a social community environment;   automatically selecting a relevant content related to the media content from at least one of a user generated content library and a professional content library based on match between a meta-data associated with the media content and the relevant content;   streaming the media content from a central server associated with the central content database to the user without requiring consideration of the user to access the media content; and   displaying the relevant content to the user when the media content is being streamed.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the user generated content library includes at least one a blog content, a karaoke performance, a discussion content, a chat content, and an indicator that illustrates which other users are concurrently listening to the media content. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the professional content library includes at least one of a news content, an event content, a background information content, a lyrics content, and a performance content. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the meta-data is at least one of an artist name, a track name, an album name, a genre, and a theme. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein an electronic message is sent to the user after the media content is streamed having additional relevant content related to the media content, and wherein the relevant content is determined based on a profile of the user in the social community environment. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising:
 providing a bidding system in which different organizations providing relevant content bid against each other on placement and click through of the relevant content in a specific ones of the media content of the plurality of artists and at specific locations of the media content of the plurality of artists, and in which the different organizations select different profiles of users of the social community environment to target delivery of the relevant content; and 
 determining the relevant content that is displayed based on an analysis of at least one of a click through rate on the relevant content by a plurality of users of the social community environment. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the relevant content is displayed in a drop-down banner adjacent to a location in the social community environment in which the user selected the media content. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising:
 providing a server-side media player associated with the social community environment that enables the user to stream the media content along with the relevant content to a client device; and 
 providing a widget of the server-side media player that is embeddable across different websites such that users of the different websites are able to stream the media content along with the relevant content to their respective client devices from the central server through the different websites. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 processing a transaction in which the user purchases a downloadable copy of the media content; and 
 communicating the downloadable copy of the media content to the client device when the transaction is complete. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 selecting a different relevant content to be displayed after the relevant content when the media content is still being streamed to the client device such that the different ones of the relevant content are targeted toward at least one of a beginning portion, an middle portion, an ending portion, and an arbitrary portion of the streaming of the media content. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         12 . A method comprising:
 generating a relevant content that is targeted toward a user playing a streaming media content from a central server based on a characteristic of a media content currently being streamed and a meta-data of the relevant content; and   displaying the relevant content while the media content is streamed to a client device associated with the user.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the relevant content is selected at least one of a user generated content library and a professional content library. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the user generated content library includes at least one a blog content, a karaoke performance, a discussion content, a chat content, and an indicator that illustrates which other users are concurrently listening to the media content. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the professional content library includes at least one of a news content, an event content, a background information content, a lyrics content, and a performance content. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the meta-data is at least one of an artist name, a track name, an album name, a genre, and a theme. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein an electronic message is sent to the user after the media content is streamed having additional relevant content related to the media content, and wherein the relevant content is determined based on a profile of the user in a social community environment. 
     
     
         18 . A system, comprising:
 a central server to stream a media content to a user and to select a relevant content to be simultaneously displayed with the media content being streamed;   a media database associated with the central server having the media content and other media content of a plurality of artists and media labels based on a request of a user of a social community environment;   a related content database associated with the central server having a user generated content library and a professional content library associated with each of the media content of the media database; and   a client device to display the relevant content to the user when the media content is streamed to the user without requiring consideration from the user to access the media content.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18   wherein the user generated content library includes at least one a blog content, a karaoke performance, a discussion content, a chat content, and an indicator that illustrates which other users are concurrently listening to the media content, and   wherein the professional content library includes at least one of a news content, an event content, a background information content, a lyrics content, and a performance content.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18  further comprising a communication module of the central server to transmit an electronic message to the user after the media content is streamed having additional relevant content related to the media content.