if piracy =/= theft, maybe piracy = free sample?

Anyone else remember this PIRACY IS THEFT!!!!!!! ad? It was a fairly scarring part of my childhood and it perpetrates a pervasive metaphor in copyright and piracy debates.

But here's a thought, the most pirated cultural content is also the highest grossing content and there may be a correlation between illegal downloads and digital purchases. So, if pirates also also the ones that legally access the IPs that they encroach on, the theft metaphor doesn't hold up as well. But if pirates are more likely to consume media anyways, why bother illegally accessing media?

Well, why should we blindly trust that we'll get our money's worth? Consider that a console video game is about to hit CDN$100. That is a substantial sum to spend on an untested product. I wouldn't even buy a lipstick without testing it (and a movie ticket is now more expensive than my lipstick). If the conglomerations that control our media refuse to give a clue at what we're paying for, illegally accessing a (usually) inferior product to test it first just seems like the smart thing to do.

BBC Radio 1 Covers

In the strictest sense, a cover is a remix, lifting the lyrics and major instrumentals at minimum. As a category of music, it highlights the musical talents of the artist by referencing a ubiquitous piece to act as a benchmark of vocal talent, originality in performance, etc.  

BBC 1 Live Lounge has a tradition of having musical guests cover the hit song of the day. Some are incredibly similar to the original, leveraging the in the nuances of performance to make it unique. 

The Kooks - Pumped up Kicks by Foster the People
uploaded by MELOMANODAV 

Others, still working inside of cover category, are notably different in tone, emotion, narrative, etc.; all the soft interpretations that make art enjoyable.  

The Noisettes - When You Were Young by the Killers

uploaded by pheonix music and movies

And still, the cover can be extended further, keeping only the barest musical forms like written chord progression and melody. 

Lady Gaga - Viva la Vida by Coldplay

uploaded by Little Fame Monster

So, at what point has a cover moved beyond the referential? At some point, it sounds like the only requirement for a performance to be a cover is the citation.  

And what do we, as an audience, want out of a cover anyways?

PS. BBC1 Live Lounge still does this, and finally post them on their official channel, but all of the videos cited here pre-date the official channel. Anyone care to count all the people who could have these taken down and why they why it benefits them to keep it up?