Sure, I suppose he could just move on with his life, but it's an album he really wanted and even offered to pay for it. Changes in how the record industry operates need to happen, not peoples priorities.
My only point: pirating is not a valid form of protest, because it is actually about you satisfying your wants.
"Pirating" music is as much an act of protest as it does satisfy. In fact, it doubles the enjoyment whilst filesharing is considered illegal, and triples it when you tell the world about it. It's practically free joy for the price of naught, and contributes to world peace.
How does the second follow from the first?
I'm reluctant to pay for music when I know that a large portion of the money is going towards the record industry, which essentially means that I'm contributing to efforts like ACTA, IPRED, attacks on net neutrality and the gradual shift to blaming the ISPs. To me this is far worse to society than anything allegedly caused by piracy.
Considering how little money the average artist get from record sales, I would rather protest the record companies by pirating the music and spending money directly on the artists through live venues and merchandise.