Well think about this- All over the country, and I'm guessing all over the world, bands goto clubs/bars/whatnot and play unoriginal/copyrighted music (essentially giving it away for free) and profit off of it. I don't think that's wrong.

And those of us who have actually worked in those kinds of bands will recall that there are stories of the RIAA trying to extort money from the bands and the bar owners. There were also stories of the RIAA trying to extort money from retail stores that played local radio stations over their PA systems. I don't know if these stories were true or not, they might have been urban legends.