My personal best example of this is tape-trading (which were mostly CD-Rs, but whatever) underground metal back in the '90s. The sheer amount of work it took to

My personal best example of this is tape-trading (which were mostly CD-Rs, but whatever) underground metal back in the '90s. The sheer amount of work it took to find people to trade with, burn the music, send it through the mail and, best of all, get their package in return made it seem so significant. And it was the best way to find out about new bands. Even bands that eventually became huge, like Metallica after they changed their sound, built their initial fanbase via the trading scene.