Insurance for your business shouldn’t be complicated! This guide will answer your burning questions about general liability insurance for musicians. Plus, it will give you the confidence to find the right coverage for your needs so you can focus more on making music, booking gigs, and networking.
Musician Liability Insurance 101
What Is Liability Insurance for Musicians?
Liability insurance for musicians financially protects you from claims related to your business that happen before, during, or after your gigs. This includes injuries to other people (but not yourself or your employees), accidental property damage to the venues you perform in, false advertising claims, and legal fees.
Do Musicians Need Public Liability Insurance?
Yes, musicians should have insurance for these two major reasons:
- If you don’t have it, you have to pay out of pocket for expensive claims, lawsuits, or medical bills related to your business
- Most venue owners and event planners require you to have insurance before hiring you
Insurance Canopy’s in-house insurance agent and expert, JoAnne Hammer, explains what can happen if you don’t have insurance.
If you do not carry insurance, a venue may cancel your performance, refuse to pay you for your services, or demand payment out of pocket for any damage or injuries that were a result of your business activities.
What Kind of Claims Do Musicians Face?
Even if you’re only playing a few open mics at local bars or cafes, you could face risks like these:
- While transporting equipment to a venue, you stumble and make a noticeable hole in the drywall | $500
- While performing, one of your speakers falls off the stage and breaks a guest’s foot | $8,000
- You leave a bad review about a venue on social media, and the venue sues for defamation | $4,000
Learn about more real-world musician liability risks and how to avoid them.
What Does Musician Liability Insurance Include?
The base coverage of musicians’ liability insurance includes:
- General Liability Insurance
- Third-party bodily injury: An audience member or venue employee gets hurt because of your business
- Property damage: Your business damages a venue or event space
- Products – completed operations: You sell t-shirts or other merch to customers, and it injures them
- Personal and advertising injury: Copyright infringement, libel, slander, and similar claims
If you need additional coverage for risks that aren’t included in your base policy, you can also add these optional coverages to your policy:
- Gear and equipment (aka Inland Marine): Someone breaks or steals your gear while you’re working or traveling to a gig
- Cyber liability: Someone steals your customer data if you do business online
Note: Gear and equipment, as well as cyber liability, are only available as add-ons for annual policies.
How Much Does Musician Liability Insurance Cost?
An annual musician insurance policy costs $18.50 a month or $199 per year. This coverage is ideal if you work more than three events a year.
We also offer event coverage starting at $59 per event for up to three consecutive days. This policy is good if you only work one to two events per year.
How to Protect Your Gear and Equipment
Does Musician Liability Insurance Cover My Instruments and Gear?
While our base musician insurance policy does not include your gear, you can add music equipment insurance to extend your coverage. This add-on pays to replace or repair your instruments and equipment if they’re stolen or damaged when traveling to gigs, during setup, or while performing.
Gear and equipment insurance offers two coverage levels to suit your needs:
- $2,000 limit per year (+$7.50 / month)
- $5,000 limit per year (+$15 / month)
Is Homeowners’ Insurance Enough to Protect My Instruments and Other Musical Equipment?
Unfortunately, homeowners’ insurance can’t protect your musical equipment or instruments if someone steals or damages them during gigs. Hammer explains why.
Most homeowners’ insurance policies specifically exclude any business-related activities or items. So it is unlikely that your equipment, if damaged during a performance or in transit to a performance, would be covered by homeowners’ insurance. Because each insurance company has different exclusions and options, it is best to check with your homeowners’ insurance company to fully understand any exclusions or limitations on that policy.
In other words, while your stuff might be covered while stored at home, your homeowners’ policy won’t pay for any business-related losses.
Musician Liability Insurance Must-Haves
Why Do I Need to Add Additional Insureds to My Policy?
If an accident happens during a gig, somebody could file a claim against you and the venue where it happened. When you add your partners to your policy as additional insureds, your coverage extends to them, so they’re also financially protected.
While [venues and event coordinators] do carry their own insurance, you are generally required by contract to reimburse them for any injury or damage caused by your business. Adding the venue to your policy does not cover the venue for anything that you are not found liable for or required to cover under any contracts.
Note: Many contracts require performers to provide a certificate of insurance with the venue listed as an AI. You only need to add them as an additional insured to your policy if they request it. It only costs $5 to add one and $10 to add unlimited additional insureds to your policy.
How Do I Add Additional Insureds to My Policy?
Adding additional insureds to your policy is simple:
- Sign in to your account dashboard
- Go to “Add Additional Insured”
- Enter your additional insured’s info (name, address, email, etc.)
- Pay the applicable fee ($10 for unlimited; $5 for one)
Remember that an additional insured is NOT:
- You
- Your spouse
- Employees
- Friends
- Other businesses you own
If Something Goes Wrong, How Do I File a Claim?
We hope your music career always stays upbeat, but if things fall flat, filing a claim is a simple process:
- Log in to your customer dashboard
- Go to “Manage Policies”
- Click on “File a Claim” and enter your information
- Submit your claim
Be sure to have the date and time of the incident, any documentation (e.g., police reports), and receipts for the damaged or stolen items.
What’s a Musician Certificate of Insurance (COI) and How Do I Get One?
A musician COI is a document that serves as proof of insurance. It includes your policy information, including any named additional insureds. We’ll also email a copy of your COI to any AIs you add.
Getting a COI for musicians is quick and easy:
- Log in to your customer dashboard
- Go to “Download Certificate”
- View, download, or print so you’re ready for your next gig!
Why Should I Choose Insurance Canopy for My Musician Insurance Needs?
Finding the right liability insurance for your music business doesn’t have to be scary because Insurance Canopy has your back!
Thanks to our affordable policies, a quick online application, and A+-rated customer support, we provide protection you can trust.
