A former Eminem employee has been charged with selling the rapper’s previously unreleased music on the internet.
Having worked for the superstar musician from 2007 to 2021, on Wednesday (3.19) Joseph Strange was criminally charged with selling over twenty five unreleased songs and if convicted, the defendant could face up to five years in prison and as well as a $250,000 fine. Should he be convicted on the interstate transportation of stolen goods charge, Strange could face 10 years in prison.
Following a complaint to the Federal Bureau of Investigations related to leaking and selling the music of Eminem, Strange was charged with criminal copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods.
On January 16 of this year, fellow employees of Eminem’s Ferndale, Detroit music studio contacted the FBI to report the theft of the material that had allegedly been leaked on line. The employees identified a list of 25+ unreleased songs by the hip-hop icon (born Marshall Mathers III) that matched one taken from a hard drive at the studio.
Following the complaint, the FBI tracked the leak to Strange, a former sound engineer at the Ferndale studio, and searched his residence on January 28, and multiple individuals were identified who purchased the unreleased songs, one of whom reportedly paid $50,000 for the tracks.
In a formal statement to Variety, Eminem’s spokesperson Dennis Dennehy said:
“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,” adding “We will continue to take any and all steps necessary to protect Eminem’s art and will stop at nothing to do so.”
About the case, acting US Attorney Julie Beck stated “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.”
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Sabine Fricke; Graffiti: Unknown