I'm of two minds on this. One part of me agrees with you 100%; artists shouldn't have to "compete" with illegal trafficking of their own content. That's not even fair competition, because it didn't cost the file-sharer anything to create the content. You're trying to "compete" with someone who had no up-front expenses.
The other part of me thinks that there needs to be some force to counter the insane overreach that copyright holders increasingly take in the digital age. For example: 10 minutes of previews that can't be skipped on a DVD/Blu-Ray that you legally bought, DRM that makes it uncertain whether you will continue to have access to your legally-purchased content, or arbitrary restrictions on what devices/software you can use to view your own content. The natural market forces that should work in favor of consumers are greatly diminished by the fact that a single entity has control over every sales channel for a given work. And the DMCA gives legal teeth to whatever technological measures content producers use to implement these arbitrary restrictions and controls.
There are other cases where the government intervenes to restrict this lopsided distribution of power. For example, "compulsory licensing" requires copyright or patent owners to grant licenses for certain uses of a work at predetermined rates that are set by the government. For example, this allows musicians to record "covers" of existing songs without having to get permission from the original song's author (though a royalty has to be paid).
The other part of me thinks that there needs to be some force to counter the insane overreach that copyright holders increasingly take in the digital age. For example: 10 minutes of previews that can't be skipped on a DVD/Blu-Ray that you legally bought, DRM that makes it uncertain whether you will continue to have access to your legally-purchased content, or arbitrary restrictions on what devices/software you can use to view your own content. The natural market forces that should work in favor of consumers are greatly diminished by the fact that a single entity has control over every sales channel for a given work. And the DMCA gives legal teeth to whatever technological measures content producers use to implement these arbitrary restrictions and controls.
There are other cases where the government intervenes to restrict this lopsided distribution of power. For example, "compulsory licensing" requires copyright or patent owners to grant licenses for certain uses of a work at predetermined rates that are set by the government. For example, this allows musicians to record "covers" of existing songs without having to get permission from the original song's author (though a royalty has to be paid).