Eminem, LeBron James Are Releasing Documentary About Music Piracy

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Eminem and LeBron James join forces to tell the intriguing tale of how music piracy took over the world in a new documentary titled How Music Got Free.

Eminem Has a Documentary on Music Piracy Coming

The two-part documentary series details the inside story of the "crime we all committed" to access free music during the late-1990s and early-2000s. On Tuesday (May 21), a trailer for How Music Got Free debuted, in which Eminem, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Rhymefest and music executive Steve Stoute, among others, give insight on living through this major piracy era.

"When Napster first came about, I didn't understand the internet yet," Eminem says at the start of the trailer. "I thought Yahoo was a person."

File-sharing technology like Napster was at the center of giving fans access to free music in all genres, like rap and pop, to the detriment of the artists creating the work. Songs would be uploaded by users on the platform so that other interested parties could download the tracks free of charge.

The peer-to-peer file-sharing aspect had its ups and downs, like gaining access to high-quality versions of albums or hearing nothing but static on downloads. The risk for free music was worth the reward. However, copyright infringement caused the company to encounter serious legal issues and lose many lawsuits as a result. In 2001, Napster as it once was ceased operations, and filed for bankruptcy a year later. However, the company rebranded about a decade after its initial troubles. Now, it's a music-streaming service.

How Music Got Free debuts June 11 on Paramount+.

Eminem Dives Into Producing Documentaries

As Eminem prepares to release The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)—what is assumed to be his final album next week—the rapper is also diving further into the film business with more documentaries. In addition to How Music Got Free, Slim Shady is coproducing another documentary, this time on superfandom. The doc, with the working title Stans, will explore the relationship between artist and fans through Eminem's eyes and the dedicated supporters who follow his every move. A release date has not yet been announced.