We're hearing reports today that music-blog pioneer Stereogum will soon be receiving a cash influx from the Pilot Group, the investment firm led by former AOL honcho Bob Pittman (they're the guys who scooped up a controlling stake in daily e-mail newsletter DailyCandy for somewhere around $2 million in 2003). We're not sure if Pilot has outright purchased the site—or is just investing some money—but if this rumor is true, we're guessing the 'Gum will now be able to build a revenue stream slightly more reliable than indie-label banner ads.

The obvious question: Why would Stereogum founder Scott Lapatine want to sell the three-year-old site at all? We're guessing it's the combination of a heavy workload (even though he recently brought in a co-writer, Lapatine does a majority of the writing himself) and—with 4,876 new music blogs minted each day—an increasingly crowded field of competitors, including a possible new music blog from Techcrunch. More money could not only provide more assistance on the tech side, but also help Stereogum build a real advertising sales staff — and thus increase revenue. If Pilot is indeed the investor, and they're following the model they employed with DailyCandy, they'll likely look to build Stereogum's revenue and audience so a sale down the road to a larger player—like Wenner Media—benefits both parties.

Either way, Lapatine now owes us drinks. We bought last time!