Former Eminem studio employee pleads guilty to selling unreleased music

Joseph Strange, a former employee at Eminem's studio in Ferndale, Michigan, pleaded guilty on October 22, 2026, in the Eastern District of Michigan to reproducing and selling the rapper's unreleased recordings. According to a plea agreement cited by Paste Magazine, Strange sold several songs in 2024 and earned about $50,000 from the sales. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

What the Justice Department says he did

Strange worked at the studio from 2007 to 2021. Per a Department of Justice press release, his duties included helping to set up and run the computer system that held Eminem's music, and he could reach private hard drives containing songs still in development.

The department says he copied at least ten of those files to a drive of his own and sold them to buyers online without Eminem's knowledge. Prosecutors estimate the total value of the files at no less than $750,000. The government also alleges that the buyers tried to prepare the recordings for commercial release before it was established that they had been stolen.

Statements after the plea

In the Justice Department release, Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division said Strange had "abused a position of trust" and that his conduct "undermined both legal and artistic rights." Duva added that the division remains committed to protecting intellectual property and working with law enforcement partners to deter and disrupt such crimes.

Strange's attorney, Wade Fink, gave a statement after the plea, as reported by Paste. "Joe Strange is a good man whose children have suffered greatly in all of this," Fink said. "It is a far more complicated and nuanced matter than a man just unabashedly stealing."

Paste reported that Eminem's team had not yet commented on the plea.

What comes next

Strange will be sentenced in federal district court on January 27, 2027. The sources do not say whether any of the files he sold have been recovered or have surfaced publicly, and the reporting does not name the songs involved or identify the buyers.