If downloading YouTube audio streams is what music piracy has become today, then I stand by my dismal remarks. YouTube audio is recompressed, even the highest-quality YT from yt-dlp --bestaudio is not up to the standards of yore, and you miss out on things like album-art scans.
People want shit for free.
The number of people that openly state that they pirate music has contracted a little bit, but it’s nowhere near “non-existent”.