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Two months after a batch of unreleased Eminem songs mysteriously surfaced online, a former employee of the rapper has been charged by the FBI with leaking the music.
Joseph Strange, 46, could face up to 10 years in prison after being charged Wednesday with criminal copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods. The agency says Strange was paid about $50,000 in Bitcoin online by a Canadian man who raised the funds with a group of fellow Eminem fans in exchange for the unreleased song tracks.
Representatives for Eminem on Wednesday described the unauthorized music leak as “significant damage caused by a trusted employee.”
Officials with the FBI’s Detroit office say Strange was responsible for at least 25 unreleased Eminem songs that were distributed online in January, all of it material in “various stages of development” and recorded by the rapper between 1999 and 2018.
If convicted on the copyright infringement charges, Strange would face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. A conviction for interstate transportation of stolen goods has a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Strange was an audio engineer at Eminem’s Effigy recording studio in Ferndale, Michigan, where he worked from 2007 until his dismissal in 2021. His brother, Mike Strange, is also a studio engineer who has worked with the rapper for more than two decades and continues to work at Effigy.
Eminem songs leak caused ‘significant damage,’ rapper says
A Jan. 28 search of Strange’s residence by the FBI turned up hard drives with thousands of audio files, including music created by Eminem and artists working with him, the FBI said. Agents also found handwritten lyrics and notes stashed in a safe, along with a videotape containing an unreleased Eminem music video.
Those tracks presumably included the leaked song “Smack You,” which made headlines in January for lyrics attacking hip-hop mogul Suge Knight and rapper Ja Rule. Eminem’s spokesman said at the time it was among “studio efforts never meant for public consumption,” describing the leaked music as “demos, experiments and ideas that are dated and not relevant so many years later.”
In a statement provided Wednesday to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY network, the rapper’s spokesman said, “Eminem and his team are very appreciative of the efforts by the FBI Detroit bureau for its thorough investigation” leading to the charges against Strange.
“The significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminem’s artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated, let alone the enormous financial losses incurred by the many creators and collaborators that deserve protection for their decades of work,” spokesperson Dennis Dennehy said in the statement.
“We will continue to take any and all steps necessary to protect Eminem’s art and will stop at nothing to do so,” Dennehy added.
Strange was one of four Effigy employees with access to the password-protected hard drives of Eminem music securely housed at the Ferndale facility, the FBI said.
“Joseph Strange helped set up and operate the computer/hard drive system that contains the music created by (Eminem),” the criminal complaint reads. “This system is not connected to the internet and only a few people have access to the system. Joseph Strange had access to the drives while he was employed at the studio.”
Joseph Strange allegedly bartered song leaks with Eminem fans
The FBI says the first break in the case came via Fredwreck, a longtime producer and associate of Dr. Dre and Eminem. In a since-deleted X post in January, he wrote: “To the criminal leaking Eminem’s music: we will find you. Street law will apply.”
Fredwreck was then contacted by an Eminem fan and tipster from the U.K., who revealed message chats between himself and an internet user going by “Doja Rat,” later identified as a 31-year-old Canadian man.
Doja Rat said he had paid Strange about $50,000 for the stolen music and provided a list of songs claimed by Strange to be in his possession, the FBI says. Effigy studio employees confirmed the song list precisely matched the contents of a hard drive long secured at the Ferndale facility.
In a later interview with the FBI, Doja Rat said he initially linked up with Strange on YouTube, where the former Eminem employee ran a channel. Working with a group of fans online, Doja Rat sent Bitcoin payments to Strange starting in August 2024 to purchase about 25 songs.
The FBI also interviewed another pair of fans who said they purchased music online from Strange, including one who said he paid about $1,000 for a pair of songs. Beyond their internet pseudonyms, the fans are not named in the complaint and are not charged.
“Protecting intellectual property from thieves is critical in safeguarding the exclusive rights of creators and protecting their original work from reproduction and distribution by individuals who seek to profit from the creative output of others,” acting U.S. Attorney Julie Beck said in a statement provided Wednesday by the Department of Justice.
Eminem is no stranger to shady activities by people online. In the early 2000s, he was among the first major artists to suffer premature leaks of his music — including 2002’s “The Eminem Show,” whose release date was pushed up after pirated copies emerged online.
In 2010, another batch of previously unreleased Eminem music hit the internet, including one song that later prompted the rapper to apologize to his longtime collaborator Rihanna.
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