I don't think that's their primary argument or that he's trying to make an argument at all; its more an an observation that piracy helped him obtain some of the music he loved most growing up, especially the obscure stuff. Again, I agree with you, its just you're framing his thoughts as an argument that's trying to win people over when I think that is a bit unfair.

Especially considering the premise of the article is that they wouldn't have achieve the success (and money) they have now without file sharing.

But nonetheless, Fleet Foxes freakin rock and I'm super happy to see them pop up in the hacker news headlines!