Unreleased Eminem music stolen and sold online – former studio engineer charged

A former Eminem studio engineer has been charged Wednesday with stealing celebrated rapper Eminem’s unreleased music and selling it online.

Investigators say more than 25 songs have been played or distributed online without the consent of the Detroit rapper or Interscope Capital Labels Group, which owns Eminem’s music.

The music was stored on password-protected hard drives kept in a safe at Eminem's studio in Ferndale, a Detroit suburb, according to an FBI affidavit.

Joseph Strange, 46, was charged via a criminal complaint with copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods, Acting US Attorney Julie Beck in Detroit said.

Strange, who lost his job at Eminem's studio in 2021, could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of both counts.

Studio employees reported the theft to the FBI in January, saying unreleased music that was still in development was being played on various websites, including Reddit and YouTube.

A review showed someone transferred files from a hard drive in a safe to an external hard drive in October 2019 and January 2020, when Strange was a sound engineer at the studio.

Investigators found buyers after Eminem business associate Fred Nassar posted an online warning to fans not to distribute the music.

A Canadian resident who used the screen name Doja Rat told investigators he had purchased 25 unreleased songs from Strange for about $50,000 in Bitcoin. He said he raised the money from a group of fans of Eminem. Strange also was trying to sell some of Eminem's handwritten lyric sheets, Doja Rat said.

Another group of fans organized by someone in Connecticut using the screen name ATL also purchased a “couple” of songs from Strange for about $1,000, according to the affidavit.

An FBI search of Strange's home in January turned up numerous handwritten Eminem lyric sheets and notes; a VHS tape of an unreleased Eminem video; and hard drives with 12,000 audio files. Some of the files contained music in various stages of development by Eminem and unidentified artists working with him, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit notes that Strange signed an agreement as part of his severance package that specifically prohibited him from electronically circulating Eminem's work.