No big surprise there if you're familiar w/ the scene...

http://torrentfreak.com/avicii-and-other-djs-produce-hits-using-pirated-software-150223/
 
I don't usually advocate stealing music, but if you like Avicii or any of those visibly brilliant fellows, I suggest you refrain from buying their crap and, instead, send your $ to the software developers those idiots are stealing from. Arpeggiators and in-house sound designers are doing all the work anyway, so you'll be paying the guys who are actually responsible for the music...

 
Excerpt:  
"With a net worth estimated at $60 million the Swede has plenty of cash to splash. Enough to buy an expensive Hollywood Hills mansion.
 
Interestingly, however, some of the tracks he made his millions with were produced with the help of pirated software. 
 
In an interview with Future Music Magazine Avicii proudly shows his setup and the associated video reveals that he’s using a cracked version of Lennar Digital’s popular Sylenth1 plugin, which normally costs €139."
 
I'm sure he can rationalize this... 

Funnily enough I just read that article from my FB newsfeed. It does say at the end that the artists in question have since bought licenses. I wonder if there's been some big money changing hands to make things better. 

I doubt the public would do more than a collective shrug if McCartney was caught playing a stolen amp/bass. Sure, the press would have a field day with it....for a few weeks until juicier gossip replaced it on twitter. I'm fairly sure of this because far worse things have been known about celebrities and the response is typically a reflection of how the person already percieved the celebrity or those similar to celebrity being discussed.  We,as a society constantly rationalize or downplay misdeeds of those we admire and respect. I have seen it hear and everywhere else where people with pretty heinous acts far worse than software piracy in their history are praised.Doesn't make us bad people per say, but very very human. Even the ability/desire to remember that a celebrity did something reprehensible often correlates to preconceived notions of that person and his/her demographic. 

yorolpal
I'm not shocked by him using warez. I'm gobsmacked that he's worth 60 mil!!

This world...this world...

I don't know enough about him to ascertain whether It is shocking he is worth 60 million. Odds are his fortune is not directly from record sales. Doesn't make him using warez any better.

yorolpal
I'm gobsmacked that he's worth 60 mil!!

Yeah, it hit me afterwards.
When, why, how did that happen?!!! 
 
Reading his wiki, he hit big time when he sampled a line from a classic song, which served as a hook for one of his pieces. (Something's Got a Hold on Me, by Etta James). Apparently, he wasn't even the first to use it either.
 
He then got to hang out with people like Madonna and Lenny Kravitz... And the rest is history.
 
This is how you build an empire in this century. Steal the right hook and meet the right people.