> Thus content creators shouldn't have an automatic entitlement to get paid each time someone reads/listens to/watches a work. If those are the conditions for

> Thus content creators shouldn't have an automatic entitlement to get paid each time someone reads/listens to/watches a work. If those are the conditions for which the work was created, then they absolutely do. Regardless, downloading a work and distributing it, that’s theft. If the creator/financer made it available, then that’s their prerogative. At some point in the chain, that content left someone’s server under a license agreement that then was broken when the downloader shared it. The breaking of the license agreement is the issue here. People don’t have a right to break a valid contract unless a court says they do. Regardless if your feelings, it’s still theft. And yes, we do benefit from copyright. It protects your work from thieves who played no part in the financing or creation of the work.