Liability Insurance for a Gig?

[b0b]

Has an outdoor event ever required you to get liability insurance to perform? Apparently we have to get a $1 million policy to play at a local fair. I never heard of such a thing before.

[John Booth]

Has an outdoor event ever required you to get liability insurance to perform? Apparently we have to get a $1 million policy to play at a local fair. I never heard of such a thing before.

They made us do that for a string of casino shows.
It was cheap enuf.
JB

[Clyde Mattocks]

It was in a contract Camp Lejeune Marine Base sent us for a gig. We told them it was a deal breaker. We got the gig anyway without having to get the insurance.

[Patrick Ickes]

B0b,
Just draw a line through that line in the contract and send it in.
No matter what you do, the fairground, your band, the shooting gallery, and the cotton candy vender are all going to get notice from some dirtbag lawyer that you caused something to happen to someone that has caused them grief.
If they insist, add it to your contract fee plus your time to get the policy.
Its cheap and good for a year if you should need it again.
Patrick

[Charlie McDonald]

Inflation. People are worried about the damage music can cause? I like Patrick's suggestion.

[b0b]

They will cancel us if we don't have insurance. It's going to cost about $125 - for a 2-hour gig!

[Mark van Allen]

I've had to get insurance like that for a gig we put on and promoted at an outdoor venue, they were protecting themselves from not knowing our crowd, etc. But that's pretty over the top for a gig they're hiring you to play that they're promoting. I don't get it. Should be included in their own blanket coverage.

[Barry Blackwood]

They will cancel us if we don't have insurance. It's going to cost about $125 - for a 2-hour gig!

Simply add it to your price..

[Niels Andrews]

Remember this is a hobby, just a cost for your recreation. They will find someone to play it even if it cost them to do the gig. After all they are doing you a favor by letting you play, right?

[Patrick Ickes]

Is this the Citrus Fairgrounds?
If so, I believe they have a new management entity, and I've heard nothing but bad things about dealing with them lately.
Good luck.
Patrick

[b0b]

They say that their insurer is requiring them to do this. I think insurance is a racket.

[b0b]

Simply add it to your price..

Yes, we are doing that, but the paperwork is a pain in the ass. Everything has to be just right.

[Barry Blackwood]

I think insurance is a racket.

Yes it is, b0b, and a mighty big one at that.

[Paul Sutherland]

I've heard of this, but I don't understand what risk you are being made to buy coverage for. Can someone explain please.

[Jamie Mitchell]

I've heard of this, but I don't understand what risk you are being made to buy coverage for. Can someone explain please.

People getting hurt in any way at the event. Speakers falling, rigging tipping over, fire, property damage etc etc...

[Paul Sutherland]

The events that are requiring this sort of thing seem to be mostly the large gigs where the venue provides the sound system and an engineer. All the musicians provide is their instruments and amps, unless a backline is provided. So the vast majority of things that could possibly hurt someone in the audience are NOT within the control of the musicians. The band is in no position to enforce building codes or fire codes, and in almost all circumstances has no control over such things. If someone in the crowd causes property damage, shouldn't that have been prevented by security hired by the promoter, not the performers.

However, if the band is providing the sound (and/or lights), such as at the typical private wedding, I can see the reason for the insurance. Also, if the band is using pyrotechnics as part of their show, then the requirement is reasonable.

[Donny Hinson]

They will cancel us if we don't have insurance. It's going to cost about $125 - for a 2-hour gig!

Inform them you will have to increase your fee by $250, to cover the cost, and see what they say.

[b0b]

They're going to cover the cost of the insurance, but I have to deal with the insurance company to match their specifications. Pain in the ass.

[Bryan Bradfield]

When I was requested to provide insurance many years ago for a government gig (a local fair), my home and auto insurance company based the performing premium quotation on 3 items:
1) Whether food and beverages would be in the area.
2) Anticipated audience size.
3) Whether bleachers would be used.
The cost of the insurance premium exceeded the performance fee, so I declined the gig.

I subsequently added to our boiler-plate contract a phrase that stated that we assumed responsibility for problems caused by our musicians and their equipment, while the venue assumed responsibility for everything else. No other venue required insurance, but I never did re-approach the government contactor.

[LJ Eiffert]

Bob, you being a business man should know this game is played in everything we do in life. Remember you said, no Politics on here Leo or running any body or things down of face value. That's what that game is in that business in every States in the Union of United States Of America. 5 party system. Good luck on that gig and may you get rich from it Bob. God Bless.

[John McClung]

I had this happen a couple of years ago, a band I cobbled together was hired for a private event in their own building, and just days before the gig the yacht club's attorney declared we'd have to have our own liability insurance.

I researched it, found out the cost, and told the client we could still play the gig, but the contract would have to be changed to add on the insurance cost.

They weren't happy, but there was no time to tell us no and get someone else, and if they did, we had a contract with pretty air-tight stipulations about last minute cancellation, and they'd have had to pay us and the new band.

In the end, it all worked out fine, but it was a bit touch-and-go in the initial moments. The lady who booked us had never booked entertainment. I told her in all my years of playing professionally, I'd never been asked to provide liability insurance, and that it was far from a standard practice in the entertainment business. That's a good line to come back with!

So bandleaders: always have a carefully written contract, no matter what! You protect yourself and your players. Don't trust your clients, everyone gets funny when money is involved.

[John McClung]

I believe I got the liability insurance through MusicPro Insurance, the company I insure my gear through. Cost was maybe $150, wasn't extremely exorbitant, but more than we could absorb.

[LJ Eiffert]

John,So you mean the yacht club's attorney paid for it,Or did you still? Somebody snowed you on this deal.

[Alvin Blaine]

After Great White caught a club on fire, in 2003 that killed 100 people, many of the gigs I've been doing have started asking that the bands, and audio and lighting engineers, carry liability insurance.
There were a handful of casinos that require it, and County Fair grounds and most State Parks. When I do sound gigs, I have to have $2 million policy on some. My policy also states that I can NOT do lighting or any pyrotechnics, just audio. I like that, because I hate doing lights, and have no idea what pyrotechnics have to do with music.

[steve takacs]

John, would you check your email and PMs. Thanks steve t