A new music Web site developed by two recent Harvard College graduates is helping link guitarists in New York with musicians of all instruments across the world.

Dan Zaccagnino and Matthew Siegel, who graduated from Harvard in 2005, now live in Lower Manhattan, where they recently launched indabamusic.com.

The young entrepreneurs worked with an investor in launching “Indaba music” — taken from “indaba,” which is Zulu for “gathering.” Since its inception in January the Web site has registered about 5,000 members.

Mr. Zaccagnino had been playing the guitar for years, but when he wanted to blend his music with unique instruments such as the banjo and marimba he felt constrained by geography.

He paired up with Mr. Siegel to devise a way to conduct a global search for musicians. Their site removes the need to practice tracks together in a nearby garage or studio, instead allowing musicians to share music online without ever meeting.

Basic membership on the Web site is free and users can upload their work and invite others to contribute tracks. “People just stumble upon things and new stuff happens that you might never have even thought of,” Mr. Zaccagnino said.

He said he recently had one of his guitar pieces picked up by a vocalist in Nigeria, who added his own lyrics. The music started as a simple acoustic rhythm, but was, Mr. Zaccagnino said, transformed into a dynamic pop song.

“People can take their own interpretation and make something new of it,” he said.

Indaba Music is one of many online music collaboration sites that have popped up in the last eight months. Other sites with similar concepts include “Jamglue” and “SpliceMusic.”

An assistant professor of music at the SUNY College at Oneonta, Charles Dahan, said collaboration Web sites could be a good idea, but that users should be careful.

“There has to be some sort of business discussion beforehand on a Web site like this,” he said. “When is that discussion being had? Who’s going to own it? What percentage does each person own? Who’s going to register the copyrights?”

Indaba allows members to accept or reject terms for work in a session. The terms include things such as price and final file type, so members can agree to these things ahead of time. “Beyond that it is up to the musicians who make music together to work out specifics — as it is in the offline world as well,” Mr. Siegel said.