Morality of Illegally Downloading Music

In The Ethicist's article on the morality of illegally downloading music, he/she states that downloading music from the internet illegally is theft and that you should not do it. He/she also explains that although it is unethical, it is also understandable.

The morality of illegally downloading music is very tough for me to decide. Technically, I would have to admit that illegally downloading music is unethical, but it is a very gray matter for me. I definitely believe that downloading music and then distributing the song for profit is completely unethical; profitting off of somebody else's work is wrong. It is true that downloading music is stealing, but by downloading the music, you become a bigger fan of the artist and find more of their music and spread word to your friends about the artist. This in turn increases the popularity of the artist, which will then benefit the artist in more ways than just monetarily.

Later in the article the ethicist explains how the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) understands that people illegally download music because it is extremely easy and not because they are bad people. The media VP for ASCAP, Mark Morgenstern, states that they are "going on the assumption that people want to be good" and that they are "looking for ways to help make it easy for [people] to do the right thing." ASCAP is trying to make it impossible for people to download music illegally, which I believe this is the best way to approach the issue. As long as illegally downloading music is as simple as it is now, I believe that people will continue to illegally download.