I had a more involved idea about this a while back. It needs work to set up, but this kind of forum could be a great starting point.

The idea is 'open source music'. There are programs around that keep track of program code and versioning, which are net-ready and could be twisted to contain libraries of wav files and loops instead of program code.

Acid is a great way to bind it all together - each project would contain one acid file, and various wavs. (Along with MIDI files to allow new instruments to be used.) If no Acid effects or automations are used, this could be pretty universal - all effects would be placed in separate recordings to allow a proper mixdown, or re-application if necessary.

Is Acid available for the Mac at all? If not, we'd have to think of something different. Zipped project-length wavs, perhaps (zipping will compress all the dead-space.)

The beauty of this is that these versioning programs allow branching, so if someone wants to take music in a different direction, a branch can be made to represent this. Presto, instant remixes! There's also a history, so if someone wants to work on something that's previously been changed, they can. (For example, to re-apply compression using a better processor).

The downside? We'd need lots of space on the server - and rules/systems in place to help avoid people just raping it for good loops. And good agreements made to cover what happens in the event of a release.

I don't have the time to do anything about this... Much as I'd love to. Anyone here have buckets of time and software skills?
:?
Tequila