I am pretty sure that many do choose "free"/pirated/whatever becaus it is simply more convenient to get and manage content this way. Consider all the hops you need to jump buying physical DVD and torrenting the movie. Or think about this scenario: you here a song you like somewhere and you want to get it. Digital world: launch your Shazam/Sound hound, let it identify the song, press "buy". Physical world… I will let you to work out this one yourself. And you may end up buying 10 more songs you don't like just because they were on the same album. There is the reason why ITMS is #1 music seller in US.

Alas, producers are stuck in their world of physical copies. They do have a problem there—in the digital world they are pretty much unneeded middlemen. Let's remember that if one got illegal copy of some piece this does not directly translates to lost sale — if there was no way to get it for free our hero could just as well decide "to the hell with it". However, illegal copies and copyrated material on youtube, etc. can sometimes work as an advertisement for an artist and mean more ticket sales for the next gig.

So, unbeatable DRM would probably mean slightly more sales, but less revenue for the artists.