1. www.badgesforbands.com
If you run a festival, family day or education event, maybe you are also in a band. This clever site allows you to upload a logo (or other artwork) to a template. They send you a sack load of cute badges which punters won’t be able to resist. It’s simple, great value and the speedy response will be a revelation. Try it and see how the novelty of a low-tech item such as a badge adds value to your gig and delights your customers. 

2. www.threadless.com
Although not obviously applicable to the everyday working life of a music promoter or arts professional, I love this site and get a large chunk of my wardrobe from it. In our game we have to look good, right? It works like this: designers upload their artwork and users vote for their favourites. The most popular designs are produced as t-shirts and available to buy. It’s a great place for beautiful and unique t-shirts and a perfect example of the power of audience interaction, in this case ‘crowd sourcing’.

3. www.spotify.com
If you haven’t ‘spotified’ yet, do it now. With a library of titles bigger than all mainstream and most independent record shops, all you have to do is sign in and search for the album or song of your choice and play it. You can listen as often as you choose, and it’s entirely free. It’s great for researching artists, and never again can someone at your party complain that the DJ hasn’t got that record. Streaming, whether we like it or not, is how we will consume music from now on, and the increasing pervasiveness of recorded music which is distributed for free only emphasises the importance and excitement of the live performance.
 

4. www.ted.com
Can’t spare the time away from your desk? Can’t justify to your boss the £400 to go to that conference you know will help you plan for the future? TED might help. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. It’s a collection of videos of keynote speeches from the world’s greatest minds and most innovative thinkers, presented on a lovely site. Favouring video and images over text, TED is at the forefront of a growing trend of visually-led sites. Watch anyone from Malcolm Gladwell to Richard Dawkins. The site’s tag line is “Ideas worth spreading” and that is exactly what you’ll find. 

5. www.versiontracker.com
Arts budgets are more iPod nano in scale than IBM Blue Gene server – especially with the impending cuts which the public sector will inevitably suffer in the coming years. This site often comes to my rescue, and may help balance your spreadsheet too. I edit images and video on a daily basis, but I can’t buy the latest computer software for thousands of pounds, so I use a similar programme curiously named the Gimp. It is one of thousands of free and open source software packages available at versiontracker. If you’ve got a computer-based job to do, there will be a big bucks software solution, but the chances are you’ll also find a freeware alternative. Type in what you need to do and versiontracker will find you the software, both proprietary and open source, which will help you get the job done.