I can speak for Relay and MPU: we don’t want anyone to feel guilty about this. Please keep listening and enjoying the shows! Doing business with our sponsors is totally awesome, but even people who don’t do that should feel fine about listening to their favorite shows.
We’re looking to diversifying out business, but unlike what some are suggesting, the indie podcast game isn’t on its last legs here. Relay would continue to be fine without membership. Smaller, yes, but fine. We are looking to diversify like any other business would in uncertain times, but we’ve been planning this for a long time, and are grateful that it’s going well. But again, there’s no bad karma attached to not joining; that’s why we aren’t taking anything away from the free shows; all membership content is extra, new stuff.