A former employee who spent 14 years working at Eminem’s Michigan studio has admitted to stealing and selling the rapper’s unreleased music.
Joseph Strange pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Michigan to reproducing and selling the Grammy-winning artist’s unreleased recordings without permission.
Strange, who worked at Eminem’s Ferndale studio from 2007 until 2021, had access to private hard drives containing music the rapper was still developing.
According to the Department of Justice, Strange copied at least 10 music files onto his personal drive and sold them to online buyers in 2024. Authorities estimated the stolen recordings were worth at least $750,000 and alleged that buyers attempted to prepare the material for commercial release. He is alleged to have pocketed as much as $50,000.
“Joseph Strange abused a position of trust to unlawfully copy and sell unreleased music belonging to Eminem,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement.
“Joe Strange is a good man whose children have suffered greatly in all of this,” Strange’s attorney, Wade Fink said, adding, “It is a far more complicated and nuanced matter than a man just unabashedly stealing.”
Strange faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 27, 2027.
Eminem’s representatives have not publicly addressed the plea.
