I'm somewhat apathetic regarding the health of the music/tv/movie/game industries as a whole. I do care about specific shows, artists, and games though, and revenue is an important signal that businesses use to decide what to make more or less of in the future. if you don't pay for anything, you're essentially throwing away your vote. as a group, pirates are accepting that they only get to select from things that other people are willing to pay for.

Why would I not just leave my empty plastic bottle on the beach? It's not like the beach is in trouble because of my one bottle. People only avoid littering because they want to be the "good guy".