Alexandra Hainsworth, a British-Australian pop singer who’s been unable to release her own music for a long time, has taken an Aotearoa New Zealand label to court.
As first reported by Stuff, Hainsworth claims that her copyright and contract were breached by Do It Management Ltd and The Orchard (the latter is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment), which led to her not receiving royalties for her music.
Hainsworth signed with Do It Records for promotion, publishing, and distribution in March 2022. According to her company’s statement of claim, Hainsworth was due to receive 50% of profit after all expenses.
Do It Management used The Orchard to distribute some of Hainsworth’s music, but “multiple issues” soon emerged, she tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
Things came to a head in late 2024 when she “needed to cancel” her contract due to a breach of contract. Hainsworth claims that Do It Management failed to properly track her royalties, even failing to pay her for them. (According to Stuff, Do It Management disputes this claim.)
Do It Management proved difficult to reach for both Hainsworth and her manager, Victor Paul. As a result, Hainsworth got a music lawyer to cancel the contract under New Zealand law.
“I did give the documents over to The Orchard, then there really wasn’t any cooperation from Do It Records to try and resolve it,” Hainsworth tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ. “And that’s why I actually had to go legal with it, because that was the last thing I ever wanted to [do].
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“We started going legal with it, me and my manager, in October 2024 when we got an Australian lawyer on it. But essentially what happened there, we just reached a roadblock.”
Eventually Hainsworth felt she “had to go and get another team of lawyers in New Zealand. And now we’re here in [the] High Court essentially because there’s just been copyright breaches, contract breaches… And so now we’re with a different team who are intellectual property specialists.”
At the time of writing, Hainsworth hasn’t been over to Aotearoa to appear in court. “[W]e are at a memorandum stage, meaning it’s finally gone to the judge,” she explains. “So the hope is now that we’re finally getting to a resolution now that the judge is looking at it.”
What’s the best-case scenario?
“Just being able to be a normal musician again,” is Hainsworth’s simple answer.
“I’ve got two tracks that were supposed to be out like a year ago. They’re with DJ Zenni and he’s worked with Aloc and remixed for Marshmello. These are excellent tracks that need to be going out there in the world, but I haven’t been able to do it.”
Hainsworth has even expanded her artistic pursuits, refusing to let this long-running case get her down. She recently released a book, Kingdom of Flight, which she says is a “wonderful thing.”
“We’ve worked with a lot of different promoters on that one and it’s been good,” she adds.
And what about a worst-case scenario…? That doesn’t exist in her mind.
“I’m confident because I’m on the side of truth,” she insists. “[I]t’s just such a shame what’s happened. I guess these things can happen and that’s why you have to get a third party involved.
“And in this case, the High Court, what happens with copyright infringement in these cases, it can go up to $150,000 New Zealand dollars per copyright breach of assault.
“This is very, very serious. We weren’t sure what court would take it up, but it got taken up by [the] High Court. So that’s how serious it is.
Now that the case is with the judge, Hainsworth is hopeful things “should start to speed up now.”
Rolling Stone AU/NZ contacted The Orchard regarding this story.
