Indeed, If I download a cover for my own purpose, via as example Google, the responsibility is with me. Strictly I am still breaking the copyright law as the cover I download is not the copy of my CD/cover, but some-one else copy, for which I didn't pay a fee.
As this is a very grey area, people will never get courted, as it is impossible to prove.
But my response was on the suggestion to hard-code a Spotify URL in JRiver without any agreement or contract with Spotify, JRiver will break European copyrights. It's just a warning/heads up as I really don't care, I won't get the fine.
As side note:
The ripping of CD's, is only legal (Europe) since 2014, before that date it was against the law. (Section 296ZE of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988). Funny part here, in the Netherlands it was always allowed to have a copy of your own music, even if you didn't own the source, so the source could even be internet/usenet (Movies and Music). This became also illegal in 2014, you need to own the source and downloading of content became illegal.