Man charged after unreleased Eminem music sold online

A man has been charged with copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods after more than 25 Eminem songs were played or distributed online without the star's consent.

Joseph Woods, a former studio engineer has been charged with stealing the rapper's content without the permission of Interscope Capital Labels Group.

Acting US Attorney Julie Beck said the man, who lost his job at Eminem's studio in 2021, could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. 

The music was kept on hard drives in a safe at the star's studio in Ferndale, Detroit. Employees reported the theft to the FBI in January saying the unreleased music was circulating on sites such as Reddit and YouTube. 

A review found that the files were transferred from a hard drive in a safe to an external hard drive in October 2019 and January 2020 - during which time Strange was a sound engineer at the studio. 

A Canadian resident told investigators he had purchased 25 unreleased songs from Strange for $50,000 (AED 183,000) Bitcoin, having raised the money from a group of Eminem fans. 

The resident also claimed that strange was trying to sell some of Eminem's handwritten lyric sheets. 

According to the affidavit, another group of fans, located in Connecticut had purchased songs from Strange for around $1,000 (AED 3,700). 

Strange's attorney called the charges "untested allegations" and said "we will handle the matter in a courtroom and we have great faith in the judges of our district."