A former staffer to Eminem has pleaded guilty to criminal infringement of copyright, a year after the employee’s arrest for selling some of the rapper’s unreleased music online for $50,000.
Joseph Strange, who’d worked with Eminem for over a decade from 2007 to 2021, had access to the rapper’s files and, per prosecutors, had sold at least 10 unreleased tracks sometime between July and August of 2024. A member of Eminem’s team subsequently contacted the FBI in 2025 after discovering the music had leaked, and the agency is still investigating.
Per the Justice Department, the infringement amount of the leaked music is estimated to be at least $750,000. Strange will be sentenced on Jan. 27, 2027, and he faces a maximum sentencing of five years in prison.
“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,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement. “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.”
Eminem is one of many major recording artists who’s had to deal with their unreleased music getting stolen. Ariana Grande sued over hacking and leaks back in July, while earlier this year, a man pleaded guilty to stealing hard drives with unreleased Beyoncé music from the singer’s choreographer’s rental car during Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour.
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