> It's been widely recognized that the majority of piracy is committed by people who would not spend the money on the item anyway

What about other items?

E.g., someone who pirates a graphics editing program that costs several hundred dollars indeed might not have purchased it if piracy had not been available, so arguably that piracy did not cost that software maker a sale.

But if piracy had not been an option, would they have just given up on doing their graphics editing? Or would they have looked around for something else instead? Maybe they would have bought Pixelmator Pro, for example, which is under $30, and can do a lot of things that people pirate the more expensive programs for.