Another phenomenon with small to middle sized bands is the, initial pressing or pressing that's unique to a certain distributor. Bands who say, have 10k+ downloads and a run of 300 on vinyl, the vinyl sells out inside a couple of months and the price goes through the roof. I've just bought the second run pressing of the 2020 Slift album and that's already fetching £50 and it's only been out 6 weeks. The latest King Buffalo EP, the Kozmik Artifax pressing is fetching £100 plus and that was only released in May. Ergo, if you don't' buy in the first few weeks, then you're looking at paying premium prices and that phenomenon seems to be driving a good few sales in itself.
I must say, I'm really enjoying the whole feel of what's going on in music right now. It's reminiscent of my teenage years where "word of mouth" via the net, is driving what is seen as "good" and rock and indie are now open fields where "the good stuff" often finds its audience, as it did in the 70s, without people needing to be told what to buy by the MSM.