A former Eminem employee was charged last year with stealing the rapper’s unreleased music. The man has now pleaded guilty to criminal infringement of copyright.
Joseph Strange was charged with copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods in March 2025. The charges followed allegations that he sold Eminem’s music to individuals who posted more than 25 unreleased songs online in January 2025. On Thursday, October 22, the United States Department of Justice announced that Strange has entered a guilty plea. He now faces a maximum of five years in prison.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement, “Joseph Strange abused a position of trust to unlawfully copy and sell unreleased music belonging to Eminem, profiting from works that were not yet authorized for public distribution.”
“His conduct undermined both legal and artistic rights. The Criminal Division remains committed to protecting intellectual property, holding accountable those who seek to profit from theft of creative content, and working with our law enforcement partners to deter and disrupt these crimes,” Duva added.
How Eminem’s unreleased songs leaked and what the FBI found
Joseph Strange worked as a sound engineer for Eminem from 2007 to 2021 at a recording studio in Ferndale, Michigan, giving him access to the unreleased music. When the tracks surfaced online in January 2025, several studio employees contacted the FBI.
The FBI identified several individuals who purchased the music. Among them, a person named Doja Rat said that he paid Strange $50,000 for the songs. He also claimed that Strange had over 300 songs and handwritten lyric sheets in his possession. During a search of Strange’s residence, the FBI seized hard drives containing copies of Eminem’s unreleased music.
According to data from streaming providers, the infringing songs had been accessed over eight million times by November 2025. The value of the files was estimated to be at least $750,000.
Originally reported on ComingSoon.
