I really don't get that argument (from them of course, not you haha.) If you make something super easy to get and a reasonable price (eg: Quite a few comedy specials are appearing for $5 DRM free) then more people will just download it than go through the hassle of a torrent or getting their friends to put it on a memory stick.
gate keeping is a means to obtain profit. If you controlled it all, like the old media companies used to, you can make a lot more profit. but with the advent of the internet and p2p distribution, it's becoming hard to control, and this they have completion.