Well, here’s another example: YouTube is launching an orchestra. Check out the video below to get a sense of the crowd being sourced and the anticipated results.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that I would be able to judge which of the thousands of YouTube videos are worthy of a trip to Carnegie Hall. Furthermore, if it was me judging, or even if it was something put to a vote of the YouTube population, I’ll bet the results would tend more toward cacophony than symphony. All this adds up to is a pretty cool project that simply wouldn’t work without the support and knowledge of conductor Tan Dun.

My larger point, beyond wanting to share a particularly impressive example of Philanthrosourcing in a new field, is to point out how sourcing the crowd does and does not resemble open competition. Clearly, the YouTube orchestra looks to discover individual talent, but it also looks to create a new sort of art and reach a new audience. Only the weight of the established musician and the stakes of Carnegie Hall can make this project appealing to most aspiring musicians, but the eventual result of an internet-generated symphony will bring Tan Dun’s music to an entire generation of YouTubers who would otherwise never hear a note.