I got an interesting email yesterday from someone named “Roy”:

“I thought you might be interested in a new crowdsourcing initiative on www.SellaBand.com it is a place where unsigned artists can find fans who will fund the recording of an album, and in return get a cd and a share of the profits. The best thing is that everyone will be able to download the songs for free.

“This particular initiative might not interest you much, but the concept might, because it can work just as well for books. In which case those fans who fund the project get a paper version of the book and an e-Book version could be made available to everyone for free. That way we can stimulate sharing knowledge and ideas, like the ones in your books and stories. It could give you a bigger audience, without risking a loss of profits.

Just imagine what would happen if we all did this, all music and books could be downloaded for free, everyone would have access to them. It could also work for software. We would gain access to a lot of wealth, which already exists today, but which we waste by preventing others from using it.

I’m hoping more people will join and start these initiatives and spread the word, that’s why I wanted to inform you of this. I hope you don’t mind me sending you this email.”

Well, I don’t know anything about SellaBand — but it looks like an interesting idea. Take a look, and decide for yourself.