If you Wouldn't Steal Lady Gaga's Purse, Why Is It Ok To Steal Her Music?

The question has been raised as to weather it is ethically equivalent to illegally download the music of someone with the wealth and fame of say, Lady Gaga as it is to download the work of someone far less well known.
I believe that there are two, equally valid, ways of looking at this.
One way is to see all music piracy at the same level, I mean, your personal action is no different no matter whose music you are downloading. You are still knowingly making the decision to ‘steal’ somebody else’s intellectual property, with no intention of paying.
Weather or not the person or company needs the money, you are still stealing from them.
And this is illegal no matter how you look at it.
However, the fact cannot be ignored that it is easier to think of Lady Gaga or Britney Spears missing out on the twenty odd cents she would lose per stolen song than someone like Devonport local band, The Checks.
There is one other, ethical rather than legal, way of approaching this question though…
Perhaps the struggling local band could really use the exposure afforded by people, technically stealing their music but then sharing it around amongst their friends.
The only way to truly understand this would be to ask every struggling or up and coming band for their personal opinion and aside from that fact that this would be virtually impossible, you can be sure that the answers would differ hugely anyway.
I would imagine that there are even some wannabe musicians out there who illegally download music themselves.
The question really needing to be asked here is weather you feel personally justified in you illegal downloading endeavors…
Just remember though, weather you feel justified or not it is still an illegal act and also remember that they call it stealing because someone is being stolen from.