In Oklahoma, the difference between misdemeanor and felony shoplifting is the value of the merchandise. Shoplifting anything worth more than $500 is a felony; anything less than that is a felony. If you were to get caught shoplifting three music CDs, it would be a misdemeanor. At the most, you’re looking at a fine or maybe some community service.
Earlier this week, Joel Tenenbaum was convicted of downloading and sharing 30 songs (about 3 CDs worth of music) with his friends. Joel was found guilty and has been fined $675,000. Prior to going to court, Joel apologized to the RIAA and offered to pay them $500, a little more than 10x the value of the music. They declined his offer.
For what it’s worth, Tenebaum’s defense was kind of stupid and his defense team tried to claim that all file sharing is legal, which it isn’t. The judge even said that with a more competent defense she might have been more lenient. But, that’s not the way things worked out.
Joel Tenenbaum plans to appeal the decision (hopefully using a different defense team next time ’round). If that doesn’t work? Joel has already stated he’ll just file bankruptcy, which is about all any of us could do at that point.
Below is a list of the 30 songs Joel was caught sharing. The first band on the list is Incubus. I don’t know much about Incubus but I’d be willing to bet that for $675,000 I could get them to play a concert in my backyard, provide cocaine and hookers for everyone I know, let me videotape the whole thing and put it on every file sharing site known to man. Limp Bizkit would probably do it for about $30 bucks.
01 – Incubus – New Skin
02 – Green Day – Minority
03 – Outkast – Wheelz of Steel
04 – Incubus – Pardon Me
05 – Nirvana – Come As You Are
06 – Green Day – When I Come Around
07 – Green Day – Nice Guys Finish Last
08 – Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box
09 – Nine Inch Nails – The Perfect Drug
10 – Blink 182 – Adam’s Song
11 – Limp Bizkit – Rearranged
12 – Limp Bizkit – Leech
13 – Linkin Park – Crawling Hybrid
14 – Deftones – Be Quiet And Drive
15 – The Fugees – Killing Me Softly
16 – Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication
17 – Red Hot Chili Peppers – By The Way
18 – Red Hot Chili Peppers – My Friends
19 – Beck – Loser
20 – Eminem – My Name Is
21 – Eminem – Drug Ballad
22 – Eminem – Cleaning Out My Closet
23 – Beastie Boys – (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)
24 – The Ramones – The KKK Took My Baby Away
25 – Monster Magnet – Look To Your Orb For The Warning
26 – Aerosmith – Pink
27 – OutKast – Rosa Parks
28 – Rage Against The Machine – Guerrilla Radio
29 – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
30 – Aerosmith – Water Song/Janie’s Got A Gun