Is downloading music illegal?

Is downloading sheet music from 4Shared illegal / immoral?

• I want to download the Kingdom Hearts Field & Battle collection of piano sheet music from 4shared. I do not know if this is immoral or illegal. 1) Suppose I was a good enough piano musician such that if I listened to it being played on Youtube for many times, I could learn it within a couple hours. Certainly it's not illegal/immoral to watch a Youtube video and then learn by ear. 2) But if 1) is OK, then shouldn't I just be able to download sheet music and save myself a couple hours? I would not want the music if I had to pay for it anyways.

• Answer:

  Yes, it's illegal. It's also immoral. Song writers don't make much money. They get paid when you purchase the sheet music. By stealing the music, you're stealing from the writer. Most thieves justify themselves by saying they only steal from rich people, but song writers are generally not rich.