Talenthouse.com is an online community for artists founded in 2009 that creates competitions hosted by celebs and brands in order to jumpstart the careers of lesser-known artists in a variety of disciplines. (Lady Gaga and the Paul Taylor Dance Company are alums of the service, among many others.)
A few months ago, musician deadmau5, a.k.a. Joel Zimmerman, used the platform to crowdsource a design for a new mouse head to wear on stage -- Zimmerman is famous for making like a rodent during shows.
Now, the service will become even more ingrained in the music world, as it will work with UMG artists and labels to launch their own "Creative Invites" (or crowdsourcing contests). Talenthouse says that this partnership will not only garner more fans and attention for UMG artists (the voting process is Facebook-based), but will also allow unknowns to collaborate with big names.
Online collaboration with known artists is becoming more and more common, with platforms like Indaba Music offering remix competitions and opps to work with musicians such as Rivers Cuomo, and services like Blazetrak giving artists access to the likes of Rubin Studdard.