PJ Fancher (The Fest ticketmaster, Grabass Charlestons/The Careeners, I worked at No Idea Records for 10 years)
Fancher: I've never seen any direct numbers proving so but I imagine that the whole download code thing has only helped vinyl sales. I actually get a bit bummed if I buy a new record and it does not have a download code. CDs at this point are useless. I never think about buying a CD anymore. But the idea of having the actual LP plus a little code that allows us to put the music on our i-pods to listen to in our cars, touring van, work computer, etc. is awesome. Soon the likely trend will be for an instant download when you purchase a record online, which is great but doesn't help when purchasing the record directly from the band at their show. For that situation, the download code is the best option at the moment. With the consumption of recorded music becoming inevitably more digital, I think vinyl might see a bit of a mainstream resurgence in the next few years. Any trend tends to ebb and flow over the years. After a decade or so of people consuming music almost exclusively digitally, the physicality of the big old vinyl record that you can hold and look at the nice artwork may peak people's interest again. Especially if record labels start including more little perks like gatefold, colored vinyl, booklets, etc.
[this is kind of a plug but I feel like its relevant]
About five years ago I was thinking about this very thing and, being a computer nerd, made a website to help bands and record labels have an affordable download code resource. I don't charge very much, basically just enough to recoup hosting and bandwidth expenses. I always do the first record for free. As of right now, there are 323 records from 93 different labels around the world that use the service. I've re-written the project twice and in the middle of a third re-write. I kind of like to use the project as a way to stay relevant with web development stuff too. I'm stoked so many people find it useful and that a bunch of record labels have the shared opinion that the code+LP format is really nice, if not ideal.
