Ex-Eminem Employee Pleads Guilty To Selling Unreleased Music From Oakland Co. Studio: Feds

HOLLY, MI — An Oakland County man faces up to five years in prison for stealing and selling unreleased music by rapper Eminem, according to federal officials.

Joseph Strange, 48, of Holly, pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 27.

Strange's guilty plea comes 21 months after unreleased music by the rapper mysteriously surfaced online.

Officials said Strange worked for Marshall Mathers (Eminem's formal name) from 2007 to 2021 at a recording studio in Ferndale, where Eminem created and developed music intended for future release.

During his employment, officials said Strange helped set up and operate a computer system that stored music created by Mathers.

He had access to password-protected hard drives, which held music that Mathers was developing and was not yet meant to be released to the public, officials said.

At some point, officials said Strange copied 10 or more audio files from the hard drives without authorization.

He then sold or transmitted at least 10 of the music files on the internet for roughly $50,000 between July and August of 2024, officials said.

The transactions were done without Mathers’s knowledge or authorization, officials said.

The music eventually leaked online and was made available on several streaming platforms, without the permission or prior knowledge of Mathers, officials said.

Although the music was not commercially released, investigators believe professional efforts, including studio mastering, had been made to prepare some tracks.

By November 2025, investigators said data from streaming providers showed the unauthorized music had been heard over eight million times, with the estimated infringement value totaling at least $750,000.

"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," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. "His conduct undermined both legal and artistic rights."