Former Eminem employee pleads guilty to criminal copyright infringement
Former Eminem employee pleads guilty to criminal copyright infringement By Blake Brittain
Oct 22 (Reuters) - A former employee of rapper Eminem pleaded guilty on Thursday to a criminal copyright infringement charge for selling unreleased music from the rapper without permission, according to a filing in Michigan federal court.
Joseph Strange, 48, faces up to five years in prison for selling several unreleased Eminem songs in 2024 for around $50,000, the plea agreement said
The agreement said that the tracks were later leaked to the internet and streamed between eight and nine million times
Strange worked for Eminem, whose given name is Marshall Mathers, at a Ferndale, Michigan, music studio from approximately 2007 to 2021
Strange's conduct "undermined both legal and artistic rights," Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement
"Joe Strange is a good man whose children have suffered greatly in all of this," Strange's attorney Wade Fink said in a statement. "It is a far more complicated and nuanced matter than a man just unabashedly stealing."
Spokespeople for Eminem's label Universal Music Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)
((blake.brittain@tr.com; +1 (202) 938-5713))