Direct messages

Start or resume a conversation

Direct messages are between two different accounts. They are not public comments on the profile.

1. Sign in and open the musician’s profile from Search or their available profile link.
2. Select Message. If a conversation already exists between you, it opens that same conversation.
3. Type and select Send. On desktop, Enter sends and Shift+Enter adds a newline; touch keyboards keep their newline behavior.

Find conversations later

Open Messages in the header for the direct conversation list, with the latest message preview and time. On mobile, use the chat icon beside the navigation menu. The header attention dot stays visible without opening Account and indicates unread messages or pending Project invitations. Account → Messages remains available too. Unread conversations have an indicator. Load more conversations retrieves older entries; Refresh reloads the list.

Pending Project invitations appear in a separate Project Invitations section above conversations. Accept or Decline there, or under My Projects → Pending Invitations; both views update the same invitation. The Messages attention dot also appears for pending invitations, which do not create chat messages or increase unread-message counts. Navigation, window focus and reconnect refresh invitations; use Refresh to check while staying on the page.

The header Messages dot includes unread direct and Project messages. Account → Projects shows a dot for unread Project messages only, and each Project’s Messages tab shows only that Project’s unread state. Reading the latest messages updates these indicators without a page refresh; other unread conversations keep their indicators.

In a thread, Conversations returns to that list. Scroll history independently of the composer and use Load older messages when available. Expand conversation hides headers for more room, and Restore headers restores them.

Availability and privacy

Starting a conversation requires eligible active musician profiles. Public visitor access is not required for either profile: signed-in members can message eligible musicians they find through member Search even when public access is off. You cannot start a conversation with yourself. If Message is unavailable or you see an eligibility error, check your musician profile setup and the other profile’s availability.

Existing conversations are private to their participants while their accounts and conversation remain active. Project membership is not required for a direct conversation, and direct conversations do not appear in Project chat.

Typing indicators, emoji, reactions and unread-message reminders also work with direct conversations. Creating Polls is a Project Messages capability and is not available in direct messages.