It is slightly odd to say that It's OK to have the music because the artist who recorded it isn't getting any money anyway.

I'm not saying that either.

I'm saying that I owe Nic a royalty for downloading one of his 'lost' albums and for buying one of the others from Celtic.

My point is that there are two different arguments here, which get mixed up when people talk about bootlegging music. One is that bootlegging is a violation of property rights: whoever owns the property has the right to sell it or not, and all we can do is pay whatever price they want to charge. The other is that bootlegging rips off musicians, and that musicians should be paid for their work.

I agree 100% with the second argument, but not with the first one. Someone who buys Nic's first album from Celtic is doing absolutely nothing illegal, and neither is Celtic by putting it on sale. But Nic's still being ripped off, and I think that's what really matters. "Always try to make sure the artist gets paid" strikes me as a better policy than "Never download, copy or tape" - it's more workable, too.