NZ Artist Ripped Off Over $300,000 By Manager

It has been reported that New Zealand artist Dave Baxter, better known as Avalanche City, has been swindled out of over $300,000 by his own manager. 

According to Stuff, a High Court in Auckland has ordered manager Matt Coleman and his company, Let the People Speak Entertainment, to pay Baxter $307,287.

It's understood that Coleman, New Zealand's music manager of the year in 2010, withheld more than $240,000 from Baxter during their time working together. 

"(Coleman's) accounting was always wrong and we'd go through everything and find a lot of things missing and inaccurate," Baxter told Stuff.

"At the start, we weren't sure if it was incompetence or dishonesty, and either way it was serious."

Baxter continued, "They'd always have some excuse for why things were wrong and so we gave them the benefit of the doubt for a long time.

"It wasn't until we caught them out with the Air New Zealand gig, that we knew for certain and had evidence they were dishonest."

Baxter shot to fame in his home country in 2011 with hit single, Love, Love, Love. His latest album, We Are For The Wild Places, was released last August.

According to a report released last month, Coleman lied to the musician about the income he was receiving and kept more than the 20% he himself was owed as manager. 

Furthermore, $85,000 of Baxter's royalties were reportedly put into Coleman's family bank accounts. 

"I would receive royalty payments from APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) which most artists know about," Baxter said.

"However, a lot of artists don't know about Recorded Music NZ, which is another collection agency. They pay out a label share and an artist share.

"Since I owned my own music, it should all have come to me, however Coleman signed up for this on my behalf and collected it all without telling me they existed."

The Music has contacted Baxter for further comment.