People following instructions to dodge paying by commenting out the payment check code are hardly “hapless geeks”. Nobody does this by accident.
So if you listen to a spotify free account that's fine unless you do it the wrong way and then it isn't. But nobody could ever make a mistake there. They're dodging paying by flagrantly using the wrong client?
I see that pretty differently but I haven't ever used a free spotify account and don't care to use spotify beyond supporting it on our hifi for others in my family so my view on it is far from complete and infallible.
You should be aware that this thing where you pretend to be confused because you don’t like the answer is a pretty weak defense. You might be impressed with your mental gymnastics, but I assure you that the court will not be.