I suspect if you were to go on a photography forum and brag about downloading someone's photos from a free download site without the photographer's permission you'd get a similar response, but this is a music forum so we're discussing music

If you download a photo from a photographer's site you're in the same league as clipping a photograph from a book and putting it in a frame on the wall.

It's all in the use. Republishing, that's a different matter. But really, let's be realistic, do you really think folkclubs, folkfestivals and the like seek out photographers to offer payment for use of photographs in their publicity material? More often than not they contact photographers and demand better copies and then go on how they have no budget and surely we'd understand.

Endless grey areas there again too. And to be honest, the world is a lot better if you cut a bit of slack here and there and don't try to pinch a penny out of everything, within reason.

Let's be realistic, if you put a CD out there you know for each copy a few more people than the buyer alone are going to hear it or have copies of it. It comes with the territory. Yes it happens 'I just gave so and so a copy of your CD'. So fecking what! What do you do, stop talking to people who do that, send them a bill? Be sanctimonious and pretend you've never done anything like it yourself? Pretend it is realistic to charge everybody who sees a photograph or hears a tune? For godsake, really.