Hitrecord is “an open creative platform where anybody and everybody can collaborate together”, set up this year by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It is now opening up the creation of a new song by having rapper and songwriter Logic collaborate with the public, documenting the whole process and rolling it into a 45-minute YouTube special.

“Logic will create the beginnings of an original song – perhaps he’ll record a beat and a few lyrics,” says YouTube’s press release on the show. “He’ll post this on Hitrecord’s online creative platform and issue an open invitation for anybody and everybody in the world to build on what he started – either by playing an instrument, writing lyrics, or by singing vocals.” People are invited to upload their ideas and Logic will filter through them to find the best/most viable ones, the whole project being sold as a new kind of interactive talent search.

The YouTube special will follow the creative process from soup to nuts, revealing how and why creative ideas are shared and reveal the reasons why some ideas are rejected or incorporated/modified as the song starts to take shape.

The good thing is that copyrights in the final work will be shared among those who helped make it happen. “As with all Hitrecord productions, if your work is included in the finished song, music video, or television special, you will be paid,” says the submission page. In total, $50,000 has been set aside to pay contributors if they are included in the song or special, but then 50% of the publishing royalties and 45% of the master royalties from any commercial release/licensing of the track will be divided between those contributors too. (Of course, anyone wanting to enter really must read all the small print.)

In a world where fan-collaboration contests can see the fans’ contributions not earning them a single cent as they are expected to chip in merely for the reflected glory, this feels like a step forward. Is this the start of a new type of UGC – namely user-generated cash?