It never ceases to amaze me how many Web sites give useful information for free. If you've ever taken a shot at maintaining a site yourself, you know that though it's not exactly rocket science, it can be time-consuming. So how can the people behind a great site such as Indie-Music.com afford to do what they do? Certainly it has a lot of ads cluttering your desktop, but putting up with a few tacky banners is a minuscule price to pay for such a comprehensive resource.

Indie-Music.com presents important information on all aspects of indie life. Its Venues section lists hundreds of places to play in North America and beyond, broken down by state or country. The Indie-Music.com Tour Guide bills itself as the ultimate little black book for musicians. I doubt it serves the same purpose as the little black book of my youth, but it is a huge repository of touring information. The guide presents information about nearly every subject related to touring: gig swapping, food and lodging, print and radio, music stores, studios, and sound companies. Just click on a geographical area, and you're presented with all the critical facts about that locale, including links to pertinent Web sites. Indie-Music.com's Article Library includes tons of essays about a variety of subjects, from “Getting Started in Music” to “Working with a Soundman” and everything in between.

Indie-Music.com also has a huge collection of record label links, a list of favorite sites as voted on by Indie-Music.com visitors, reviews of indie releases, information on how to make and press your CD, and much more. The design is merely functional, not particularly attractive, and you may run into a broken link here and there (did I mention it's a huge site?), but persevere. Indie-Music.com is worth some time and effort. After all, it's made for you.