On both the music & software front, there's definitely no question that the line between piracy and promotion is a very blurry one. In the case of our band, the composition and recording process is so lengthy that we don't come out with new product to purchase very often - it's really just an ambitious hobby in which you're lucky if you break even. So even if they like the music and think we're awesome, there's not much else to buy and there are seldom many shows to buy tickets to (and as we usually just play festivals, we just get a flat fee and do not see profits from ticket sales anyway). They've already stolen the thing that is most valuable, so it's a hollow victory. Certainly having another fan is good, and perhaps they'll spread the word to others, but the cost vs. benefit is very unclear at best. The only thing you know for for a fact is that your hard work is being blatantly stolen in front of your eyes, and they're essentially nothing you can do about it except stand around and watch the thieves walk out the door with your goods.
But, whatcha gonna do? Either stop putting out music, or hope it works out for the best and move on. In the case of progressive music, at least a few very talented musicians who used to be able to make a meager living off of music sales have left the business due to rampant theft of their work. There's no soft-peddling the destruction of someone's livelihood due to theft (not that anyone her's doing that - I'm speaking of the general sense out there among so many that pirating MP3s is basically OK. and I don't mean to start a big discussion here over the merits of piracy).
The software side is also unclear. I have it on very good authority that the fact that a certain very expensive photo editing program was very easy to steal for many years wasn't an accident. At that point, freelancers, students, and anyone else wanting to learn and use that type of software were unlikely to be able to afford to purchase it anyway, but large companies who *could* afford it would want to be legal about ownership and would be sure to purchase their copies. Meanwhile all those people who were learning how to use said bootlegged photo program were in the process becoming skilled employees who would then bring their image editing knowledge and preference for that specific image editing program to companies who would then buy real copies. Essentially, over time, those bootlegged copies migrated to being purchased copies. And now that the image editing program has become the industry standard, that is why said program and it's brethren have become so hard to steal in recent years: when the bootlegging strategy no longer works to your benefit and you don't need to attract new users, what you *do* need is to make as much money as possible from existing users. Therefore you decide to finally take care of that long standing problem of easily pirated copies - can't imagine why that took so long to fix.
But there's a big difference between large software companies who make money by selling millions of units to an enormous market, and a company like Smiteworks who probably does most of this largely as a labor of love. Every unit sold matters far more to these guys than it does to a large company. To me it's like the difference between somebody stealing $100 from the till of a large supermarket chain store, or a small neighborhood mom & pop grocery store. Both crimes are wrong, but you know which business will be hurt the most.
Not sure exactly what point I'm making.. just musing in public I guess. My best wishes to Smiteworks in their battle against piracy. It's not an easy fight, and while I suppose I should have expected it, I was saddened to think of folks taking advantage of their work. We're pretty dang lucky they're around doing what they do.