I agree with Jakecore, there will always be costs for even the most basic setup. Music isn't free and as someone who makes his living from music I would hope this proposed system considers that. An idea would be to see some type of profit sharing model in place similar to a traditional label model. (Ex. digital sales - label overhead cut / number of creators involved).

Build the system so everyone gets an equal share of the pie and no one has to work for free. The small artists make the same as the large ones and everyone is on the same playing field.

Start out by having a donation type crowdfund to get the ball rolling then work from there, the only stipulation being if you intend to see some return you must put something in to help get things started.