---
title: "Ex-Eminem Engineer Pleads Guilty in Detroit Song Leak Case"
url: https://www.heredetroitmi.com/2026/10/23/former-eminem-engineer-pleads-guilty-unreleased-music/
date: 2026-10-23T05:31:48-04:00
modified: 2026-10-23T05:31:48-04:00
author: "Oswaldo Ross"
categories: ["Crime"]
site: "HERE Detroit"
attribution: "HERE Detroit"
---

# Ex-Eminem Engineer Pleads Guilty in Detroit Song Leak Case

> DETROIT, Mich. — Joseph Strange, who lives in Holly and once worked as a sound engineer at Eminem's recording studio in Ferndale, just north of Detroit, entered a guilty plea Thursday, Oct. 22, to one federal count of criminal infringement of a copyright, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Strange held the job from 2007

*Source: [HERE Detroit](https://www.heredetroitmi.com/2026/10/23/former-eminem-engineer-pleads-guilty-unreleased-music/) — October 23, 2026 by Oswaldo Ross*

DETROIT, Mich. — Joseph Strange, who lives in Holly and once worked as a sound engineer at Eminem’s recording studio in Ferndale, just north of Detroit, entered a guilty plea Thursday, Oct. 22, to one federal count of criminal infringement of a copyright, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Strange held the job from 2007 to 2021. His duties gave him access to password-protected hard drives holding songs the rapper, whose legal name is Marshall Mathers, had recorded but never released.

Federal prosecutors say Strange copied music files from those drives without permission and, during the summer of 2024, sold them over the internet for roughly $50,000. The songs later surfaced online.

The FBI opened the case after workers at the Ferndale studio found the unreleased tracks circulating on the web and alerted agents in January 2025.

Strange was first charged last year and originally faced a second count of interstate transportation of stolen goods.

The copyright charge carries a maximum of five years in federal prison. Sentencing is set for January 2027.