Liability Insurance?

[Fro]

With all of the years I've been playing, I'm finally looking into the need and options for liability insurance. I have coverage for all of my equipment for theft and damage, which I get through Music Pro Insurance. But the only liability they offer is for studios, and not for groups playing in bars, clubs, etc. So I'm doing some research into other companies and options.

I've always just assumed the venue is responsible for this. But we don't always play traditional venues. Plus I don't make it a point to ask everyone who is hiring me if they have liability insurance. It's actually in our contract that whoever hires the band should be supplying insurance, but that doesn't always mean they always do, and nobody is showing me proof they have it. We have quite a number of drunk folks dancing on stage and tripping over our gear that I thought it would be best to consider taking care of this ourselves and not risking going without it.

So, do any of you have liability insurance for your band? Do you have any recommendations? We're a band that plays every weekend, and never goes outside of our state.

Thanks!

 

[fractalz]

With all of the years I've been playing, I'm finally looking into the need and options for liability insurance. I have coverage for all of my equipment for theft and damage, which I get through Music Pro Insurance. But the only liability they offer is for studios, and not for groups playing in bars, clubs, etc. So I'm doing some research into other companies and options.

I've always just assumed the venue is responsible for this. But we don't always play traditional venues. Plus I don't make it a point to ask everyone who is hiring me if they have liability insurance. It's actually in our contract that whoever hires the band should be supplying insurance, but that doesn't always mean they always do, and nobody is showing me proof they have it. We have quite a number of drunk folks dancing on stage and tripping over our gear that I thought it would be best to consider taking care of this ourselves and not risking going without it.

So, do any of you have liability insurance for your band? Do you have any recommendations? We're a band that plays every weekend, and never goes outside of our state.

Thanks!

+1 on Music Pro for equipment.

I don't know much about band liability insurance. As computer consultants, we had to have business liability insurance in case one of our employees drove a car through the building (that was the example that thrown around). It wasn't very expensive so maybe something like that exists for a musician as a business.

I'd also check with your regular insurance agent and see if adding an "umbrella" policy would help. That is more about folks going after you personally, but they may not cover your actions as a business.

Please post what you find, would like to learn along with you.

 

[Xrocker]

Look for an inland marine policy.

It covers almost anything almost anywhere.

It’s expensive but worth it if you need it.

When I was running my band on the road and responsible for making payroll for five people every week it was a necessity.

 

[R.D.]

Look for an inland marine policy.

This covers the equipment ..., not the liability like the OP is asking about.

I'm in the business ( commercial underwriter ) and I'm not aware of any "standard market" companies that would provide a liability policy for a working band ? You'll most likely need to have your regular insurance agent contact a broker in the "excess & surplus lines" marketplace. Specialty companies might be able to offer something like this, but I'm not sure .... Also, they might need to know the total annual income ( revenue ) for the entire band, or possibly the equivalent in Payroll for each individual band member ( depends on how they develop their rates ) ?

The other thing to consider would be ..., to require ( in your contract ) that the organization or venue add you to their policy as an "Additional Insured", as well as ask for a "Certificate of Insurance" to confirm that this was done ! In "the business" we refer to this as "Risk Transfer" ....

Finally, even if you are successful in getting liability coverage for the band, you'll still want to re-write your contract to include three ( 3 ) additional provisions.

1. Require the organization's or venue's policies to respond on a "Primary & Non-Contributory" basis ! This means that their insurance would pay first ..., and your insurance would sit over and above theirs ( in case of a huge loss ) ....
2. Add a "Hold Harmless" Clause .... That would protect you if after the gig, the organization or venue tries to alledge that the band did damage to the facility and/or the customers ....
3. Add an "Indemnification Clause" that requires them to reimburse you just in case you suffer some other type of economic loss related to playing in their facility ....

I haven't played professionally in over 20 years ..., and this stuff wasn't available back when I was gigging ! I don't know if the insurance industry has adapted ( yet ) or not ?

GOOD LUCK !

 

[Rick]

Another MusicPro customer. I haven’t needed to claim anything in the tears I’ve been with them, but the terms of their coverage vs cost is reasonable. I’ll be curious to see what you find is out there for liability.

 

[TG3K]

We've never had liability insurance nor asked venues to provide it (we're just weekend warriors typically playing small pubs with just a handshake agreement). That said, one venue we play at a few times a year does send us a contract that says we are required to carry liability insurance, but the contract states that the venue may waive the requirement at their discretion. We're been playing there for years, and they've never asked us to provide any proof that we have insurance.

This thread brings up a good point that I'll talk to the other guys in the band about. We're all homeowners with a lot to lose if things went south at a gig. Thanks also for making me aware of MusicPro. Living in the theft capital of the US, it'd make sense to have specific gear insurance.

 

[Fro]

I'm in the business ( commercial underwriter ) and I'm not aware of any "standard market" companies that would provide a liability policy for a working band ? You'll most likely need to have your regular insurance agent contact a broker in the "excess & surplus lines" marketplace. Specialty companies might be able to offer something like this, but I'm not sure .... Also, they might need to know the total annual income ( revenue ) for the entire band, or possibly the equivalent in Payroll for each individual band member ( depends on how they develop their rates ) ?

The other thing to consider would be ..., to require ( in your contract ) that the organization or venue add you to their policy as an "Additional Insured", as well as ask for a "Certificate of Insurance" to confirm that this was done ! In "the business" we refer to this as "Risk Transfer" ....

Finally, even if you are successful in getting liability coverage for the band, you'll still want to re-write your contract to include three ( 3 ) additional provisions.

1. Require the organization's or venue's policies to respond on a "Primary & Non-Contributory" basis ! This means that their insurance would pay first ..., and your insurance would sit over and above theirs ( in case of a huge loss ) ....
2. Add a "Hold Harmless" Clause .... That would protect you if after the gig, the organization or venue tries to alledge that the band did damage to the facility and/or the customers ....
3. Add an "Indemnification Clause" that requires them to reimburse you just in case you suffer some other type of economic loss related to playing in their facility ....

I haven't played professionally in over 20 years ..., and this stuff wasn't available back when I was gigging ! I don't know if the insurance industry has adapted ( yet ) or not ?

GOOD LUCK !

Hey R.D.,

I didn’t realize that you aren’t too far from me. I actually live right off of the Zoo interchange in Wauwatosa.

Thanks for all of the info! I do have an email out to my regular insurance agent. I haven’t heard back yet, but I am guessing that this will be too specialized for any of the companies he works with. He wasn’t able to help with the equipment insurance either, but we’ll see what he says.

The Google searches so far only came up with a small handful of US insurance companies specifically geared toward musicians or performers in general. Oddly enough, I’m finding more for DJ’s and not so much for bands.

I did find one that had a pretty straight forward online form to fill out for a quote. Some of the info they were asking for did include annual income for the band. Plus the number of members, if you were touring nationwide vs home town, style of music, if you use pyro, etc. The style of music mattered because they wanted to know if mosh pits were a normal occurrence at shows, which makes sense, I guess. Since this company offered a variety of performance insurance, like for magicians or jugglers, etc., they were also asking about use of knives and other odd things as well.

This particular company had some questionable online reviews, which I know can be taken with a grain of salt. At any rate, they are in my “questionable” yet possible options list right now, and I’ll keep searching.

I do have a line in most of our contracts that says, “Buyer warrants and represents that it has, or shall obtain, sufficient personal injury and property damage liability insurance with respect to the activities of Performance Group at the Place of Performance.” I had actually been taking that out of some of the wedding contracts because it’s the bride and groom who are hiring me and not the venue. That also adds a layer of difficulty with putting any additional wording in the contract because there isn’t any agreement between the band and the venue in these cases. But additional wording may help with backyard receptions and such.

We have such a variety of places we play, clubs, bars, campground, parks, boats, blocked off streets, parking lots, etc. And we aren’t always hired by a business. It can be an individual or a volunteer group. The venue for the particular upcoming wedding that was asking about our insurance is a Polish Community center. I have no idea what their policy would cover, or who on their end would even know. The trick is how much should I focus on this one detail vs just making sure I cover our own asses.

Thanks again for the info. I’ll update the thread when I learn more.

 

[Roland]

In the UK the Musicians Union provides public liability insurance to its members. It covers all music related activities including load in, setup, tear down, as well as the performance. Since the PA and lights are mine it covers most of the band’s liabilities.