I think you are misrepresenting the power structure here. If it weren't for people downloading music for free off the internet, we would never have managed to get $0.99/tracks on iTunes in DRM free format - no motivation for the Music Industry to do so.

Remember - Consumers are _customers_ - all we really want is to be able to read/play/listen/purchase the content that is created in a format compatible with the tools/systems that we use.