The credits are literally on ASR's front page, but yeah I made a mistake, you are not named.
For a 'simple common user' you seem to care an awful lot more about this than most. As for the other groups, I didn't know VRC did that tactic, and others I have mentioned it too, and they accepted the feedback and moved on.
Why I care about this? Because I have to do the right thing! I have 2 tracks that are at release quality, and I would love to release them to the public. Why? I am unable to get licences to release them. I can't claim to ask for donations to release it, I'd get sued for everything I make.
Now, since you seem to be such a legal expert, what makes you think that paid early access to copyrighted material is legal? Because there are no examples I can think of where that is the case. But the Unauthorized use of copyrighted material is illegal, charged or not. Modders get by mostly on 'No Harm, No Foul' but with notable exceptions on some F1 mods and on anything with Porsche in it. But be assured, we do not have the rights to any of it. And if as a community we allow the blatant misuse of copyright by charging for copyrighted work, manufactures will come down hard. By being self-disciplined as a community, we are more likely to be left alone to enjoy our hobby.
A clear example of what can happen is in the flight-sim genre. To start with, most flight sim planes didn't have licences. But as more people started charging for addon planes, the more the manufactures noticed. Now you cannot release any plane from Boeing, Airbus or any other major manufacture without licencing.
So, now I've given a nice detailed answer, challenge is on the ASR people to respond with some logic and reason, and not resort to insults and swearing.