Eminem teamed up with LeBron James, Steve Stoute and more to executive produce a new documentary series about music piracy. Paramount+ announced the two-part documentary How Music Got Free and released a trailer for it on Tuesday (May 21).
Directed by Alexandria Stapleton, How Music Got Free examines how piracy completely disrupted the music industry in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Method Man provides the narration for the documentary series, which premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival earlier this year.
“From New York City, to Los Angeles, to the small factory town of Shelby, North Carolina, the two-part series features the quirky genius of the heretofore-unknown pirates,’ the drama of the FBI investigations and convictions, and the frontline accounts of music’s biggest artists and executives,” Paramount Plus said in its description of the docuseries. “An unbelievable story of cunning, illegality, celebrity, and innovation, these are the events that changed the music industry forever.”
Eminem and fellow executive producer Steve Stoute appear in the documentary as does 50 Cent, Timbaland and Interscope Records boss Jimmy Iovine, among others.
How Music Got Free is based on a book of the same name. The book and documentary series shed light on a North Carolina manufacturing plant employee named Dell Glover, who played a key role in the music leaks.
“As a filmmaker, I wanted to challenge the narrow lens of who we regard as tech innovators,” Stapleton said. “How Music Got Free is a story that proves brilliant minds can be found in unlikely places, like the rural, forgotten factory town of Shelby, North Carolina.”
How Music Got Free is scheduled to debut exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada on June 11. The documentary series will be available in the U.K., Australia, Latin America and several European countries on June 12.