The primary reason is price. Waves regularly prices the J37 at $199–$299. For a hobbyist, that’s a significant investment. Other factors include:

Cracks hurt the entire ecosystem. Waves invests less in updates and new products when revenue drops. Small developers go out of business. Ultimately, fewer high-quality plugins get made. Paying for software ensures continued innovation.

A cracked plugin has been reverse-engineered and patched illegally. Expect:

Many producers have lost masterpieces because a cracked plugin corrupted their save file.