Think they were renting it, not selling it. They were paying the royalities to the proper people (royalities that otherwise would not of been made).. but changing it they were.. some have suggested that they actually put the actual unedited copy and the cleaned version in the same package (I don't know about the double version to be honest, that would be interesting to know if it was true)..
What these companies were not doing was taking the artist's work without compensation... compensation was paid in the form of movie royalities as required.
that doesnt give you the right to alter their work.