I appreciate people like you.

I've definitely had that feeling before. I was really into Chinese rock bands and bought a bunch of CDs. I've been slowly uploading them. I mean China is a big country with lots of people, so it's not like these bands are completely unknown, but when I used to go to concerts in China some of the groups that I thought rocked the hardest didn't tend to pull big crowds. And when you look on Chinese Internet for this stuff, you usually find crappy MP3s, not rips following proper procedures.

I still think about the band where I showed up late because the train to Beijing was delayed and then the taxi driver couldn't find the venue address, so I just barely caught their last song. Then afterwards I was hanging out chatting with people and they were like, since you only got to hear one song you deserve to meet the singer. And they were friends with the singer so they called her to come out. It seemed like she was blown away that any foreign fans at all are into her music, and when she found out I didn't yet have a place to stay for the night and was planning to find a last minute hostel or hotel she said "no, you're not doing that, you're staying with my friends who have a spare room".

Whenever I rip & upload Chinese rock, I think about those people who were so friendly and gracious towards me. Like who tf invites some random stranger at a rock concert over like that. And none of those bands, even the ones that made it "big" really got the attention that I thought they deserved. They were pouring their heart and soul into their music.