Long-time readers know that S&R has always scrupulously avoided money, and we’ve done so for lots of reasons. However, lately some realities have begun asserting themselves.

When you have a certain degree of success in this game you reach a point where it starts costing more money, mainly for the bandwidth and security required to handle a growing readership. If you don’t ramp up, bad things happen – like a couple months back when one of our stories hit the front page of Digg and the ensuing traffic explosion caused our ISP to turn us off for several hours.

So we’re now on a service that takes care of that, but it costs a lot more. None of us scrogues are rich and so far no sugar daddies have come a-knocking, which means we’ve been forced to start looking for ways of covering our operating costs.

That’s why you see that eMusic banner in the right column as well as the S&R Swag banner (which desperately needs a cosmetic makeover, I know). We’re also planning on adding a tip jar and are looking into some other affiliate programs.

Mainly we want to make sure that we avoid cash sources that tempt us away from the independence of our thinking and writing, which means we’re going to be pursuing avenues that are either pro-independent thought or that have no position on the subject.

So, about that eMusic thingie. Let me begin with an unqualified endorsement. They’re a fantastic subscription-based service that brings you a staggering array of musical downloads, primarily from independent and emerging new artists. I’ve been a member for quite some time and if you’ve read my last couple of year-end best CD posts you’ve seen me talking about bands and artists I wouldn’t have discovered without eMusic.

For instance, just last week I was promoting the latest from Fiction 8, Project Phoenix. At eMusic you can download this CD (as well as a couple of their other efforts) for a dollar or two.

Count me as a booster, then – and I’ve been recommending them to people for quite awhile, so this isn’t just a mercenary move on our part.

You’ll also notice that 25 free songs thing. This is the most pain-free service I’ve ever dealt with. That’s 25 free downloads, no strings, leave if you don’t like it at any time, etc. Just like they say.

Obviously we’d be grateful if you clicked and accessed them through us.

Your support for whatever revenue generators we plug into the right column will help us stay afloat, solvent, and intellectually independent (crotchety, robust, whatever).

Thanks for tuning in. Now back to the show.