When it comes to the life of your band, or your solo career, we understand that insurance topics might not be the sexiest thing to cover. That said, it’s oftentimes a misunderstand, and crucial part of your business plan. Look, we don’t wish for the worst or unthinkable to happen to you while you’re out enjoying your exciting tour, but stuff happens.
And if it does, we want to make sure you’re not making costly mistakes by confusing what your insurance policy covers (or worse, doesn’t cover). So, with all that said, let’s dive into a common mistake a lot of musicians make when shopping for (and securing) and insurance policy.
SO, WHAT’S THE BIG CONFUSION?
The confusion typically lies with semantics, which can have real-world (and big-time financial) repercussions for you.
When shopping for “musician insurance,” especially if a venue or live event requests (or requires) it of your act, what you’re usually going for is a liability insurance policy. Now, typically this is in place on the off chance that you (or someone in your party) causes actual damage to the property on-site, or worse — bodily harm to an individual or individuals on-site.
Now, that makes sense, right? Of course, a venue or festival wants to cover all bases, and requiring insurance against liability claims would seem to fit with that.
And you want protection as well, don’t you? In all likelihood, you would probably be smart to look into this regardless of whether or not it’s being required of you for live events.
So far, so good. If you’re looking to initiate a quote online for entertainer insurance, or musician insurance for live performances you’ve got coming up, we recommend you check out our friends at K&K Insurance. They can help shape the policy that’s right for your needs, and provide a level of coverage that’ll help make things whole if things do, unfortunately, go awry at some point. You can even get the ball rolling online to make things easier.
What that sort of policy, and again we’re specifically talking about liability here, does NOT cover, are things like your personal property from common things like theft, fire, damage, etc. Meaning that this isn’t an all-encompassing policy that protects you if someone is injured AND if your gear is stolen from your tour van or home studio.
No, and that’s where we’ve heard from heartbroken artists who mistakenly assumed their policy was a one-stop deal that covered every aspect of their career, including their musical instruments whether on the road or at home.
That’s simply not the case, and in fact there are specific types of policies that DO offer that sort of coverage for you, and can help make you whole again if your favorite guitars meet an unfortunate fate.
While we won’t be delving into how to obtain those types of policies in this article, we have touched upon it in the past, and the types of policies you’ll want to investigate include homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, depending on your living situation, and perhaps even an “inland marine policy” – as bizarre as that sounds – to cover your belongings while they’re in transit or at home. Yeah, it can be confusing, but you’ll find some helpful tips here that might help you and your bandmates navigate the waters.
The key concepts to keep in mind when doing any insurance policy homework are as follows:
- Liability insurance comes into play when you are ‘liable’ for damage, most commonly to person or property. Harm has befallen others’ property and/or bodies.
- Personal property types of insurance are best suited to cover the replacement costs of your actual owned belongings, and again we’re likely talking about your musical instruments and gear, if they’re damaged, destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable due to things like theft, fire, or other types of damage. The liability insurance you procure for your live shows will likely not help you out in these instances, sorry.
IN SUMMARY
So now that we’ve cleared up one of the most common misunderstandings when it comes to selecting the right types of insurance for your act’s career, we recommend you talk to some agents about the policies they offer, what sorts of coverage options and limits they deal with, and determine for yourself which policy (or likely policies) are best suited to your needs.
As always, stay safe out there, and it’s our sincerest hope you never have to actually make use of your policy, either on tour or back home!
To learn more and get started today before your summer gig schedule fills up completely, head to https://www.kandkinsurance.com/sites/Entertainer/pages/BandsPerformers.aspx.
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