Eminem's Old Engineer Pleaded Guilty to Selling His Unreleased Songs. The Leaks Got 8 Million Plays on Real Streaming Services. So Who Got Paid?

The most protected music in Detroit sat on password-protected hard drives inside a studio in Ferndale, Michigan. One of the people who set up the system that stored it was Joseph Strange. This week, the 48-year-old from Holly, Michigan, pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal copyright infringement for copying and selling Eminem's unreleased music, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

Let me walk through what the government says happened, because the timeline is the story.

According to court documents described by the Justice Department, Strange worked for Marshall Mathers from about 2007 until 2021 at the Ferndale studio Mathers used to create and develop music. He helped set up and operate the computer system that stored that music and had access to the hard drives. At some point while he worked there, prosecutors say, he copied at least 10 audio files of music and other material in various stages of development, without permission, ClickOnDetroit reported.

Then he left. And three years later, between July and August 2024, he sold and transmitted at least 10 of those files to buyers online and received about $50,000, prosecutors said, according to ClickOnDetroit. Sit with that. Whatever he copied, he held onto it for years after he walked out the door.

The files didn't stay in a private chat. They ended up online and on "various public streaming platforms," the Justice Department said, without Mathers' knowledge or permission. Variety reported the leaks hit the web in January 2025, more than 25 songs, and that several studio employees contacted the FBI once they found out. According to the original criminal complaint, as reported by Variety, the FBI identified numerous buyers, including one who goes by Doja Rat, who said he paid Strange $50,000 for songs and that Strange claimed to have more than 300 songs plus handwritten lyric sheets. Agents searched Strange's home and seized hard drives with copies of the unreleased music, Variety reported. Those are the government's allegations from the complaint; the plea covers one count.

Here's the number that should make every artist nervous. Data from several streaming providers showed that, as of November 2025, the infringing files identified by the government had been accessed more than eight million times, the Justice Department said. The department estimates the infringement amount at no less than $750,000. Prosecutors also said that while no commercial release was "imminent or even certain," some of the music had been professionally prepared for possible release, in some cases including studio mastering.

So here's my question, and it's a question, not an accusation: eight million plays on real streaming platforms means somebody uploaded those tracks under some account, and streaming platforms pay royalties to whoever delivers the music. Who uploaded them, and did anyone get paid? Nothing in the public record I've seen says. The Justice Department's release doesn't say. If those streams generated money, that money went somewhere, and it wasn't to Eminem.

The case paperwork shows how it moved. A criminal complaint was filed in March 2025 in the Eastern District of Michigan, case 2:25-mj-30160, according to CourtListener, and a criminal case, 2:26-cr-20567, was opened Aug. 28, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Brandy R. McMillion. Variety reported the original complaint charged copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods. He pleaded to criminal infringement of a copyright, which carries a maximum of five years in prison, with sentencing set for Jan. 27, 2027, according to the Justice Department.

The government is talking tough. "Joseph Strange abused a position of trust to unlawfully copy and sell unreleased music belonging to Eminem," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division. The FBI's Detroit special agent in charge, Jennifer Runyan, said "no one has the right to steal or profit from another artist's work without their permission."

Strange's side is pushing back on the tone, not the plea. His attorney, Wade Fink, told Variety the Justice Department's release was "hyperbolic" and "self-congratulatory." "The actual facts of this case bear little resemblance to the comments made to the public," Fink said. "It is a far more complicated and nuanced matter than a man just unabashedly stealing." He said his client "has taken accountability" and has "tremendous remorse." A representative for Eminem declined to comment to Variety.

My take, labeled as my take: the lesson here isn't about one guy. It's that the most valuable thing in a rapper's studio isn't the gear, it's the vault, and the vault is only as safe as every person who ever had the password. Eminem has been doing this for nearly three decades. If his files could walk out of Ferndale and sit on a hard drive for three years, nobody's are safe.

Fink says the facts are more "nuanced" than the government's account. I'd like to hear what that means at sentencing. And I'd still like somebody to answer the streaming question.