More and more lately, I have been thinking that piracy affects almost exclusively the realm of bands that reach a certain point in popularity. 

Think about it - think of most local bands in your area.  Do a search on Limewire, The Pirate Bay, Mininova, you won’t find them.  Hell, you won’t even find some medium-level touring and radio-supported bands being pirated on there.

No, piracy mostly affects major label content. 

In fact, you could almost take having your music pirated as a bit of a compliment - you’ve made it to a point where someone has put in quite a bit of effort to make your music available to others, because they think that there is quite a bit of demand for it.  So, be happy, you have a lot of fans!  It’s up to you how you deal with it. 

That said, it does suck to lose some control of your distribution, especially if it is released in an inferior format. So make your music available in as many formats as possible, make it easily accessible and affordable.