A group of peeps from various backgrounds get together to produce an ad-hoc, distributed audio book of Larry Lessig’s Free Culture (PDF downloadable here). Additional post and comments on the project here—including the idea of aggregating everyone’s work using RSS.
This is where the light bulb goes off.
Since the main purpose of record labels is aggregation, could the “functionality” of record labels be replaced with RSS? Artists could distribute compilations, “albums”, EPs, remixes, playlists, etc…using RSS 2.0 with enclosures. Some discussion on RSS 2.0 at Joi Ito’s blog. See also Dave Winer’s Payloads For RSS.
For an example, see Christopher Lydon’s blog, where he aggregates an impressive list of interviews for syndication using a RSS2.0 feed.