Any of ou performers carry liability insurance when you're out on a gig...in case someone would trip on a cable or something like that?

always have it,.....many establishments require it or you don't play..


http://www.rvnuccio.com/specialty-insurance-products/dj-mobile-entertainer-insurance/

I carried $1-million when I was performing. It was required by 90 percent of the locations where I performed. Never had a single problem, or claim, though, and until recent years, the premium was fairly low. How things have changed.

Gary

I never have, and no one ever asked for it.

A very good friend who ws pretty high up in Prudential Insurance told me its good to have but not really necessary. I have a million Dollar coverage extra on my homeowners which would cover me in any instance and its not that expensive since its part of the package.
Now the other thing he told me is no matter what, if somethng happens on the establishments property , they are ultimatly respnsible. They may of course try to push it off on you and have the insurance companies fight it out but its still on them.
As far as places requiring it, again they're trying to get you to assume responsibility, or its a way to use only their entertainers who kick back $$$ to them. Used to be a big ploy in the NJ Wedding factories. A Bride hires you privately and then is told she must use one of the "House Bands" because they are covered. Just more music business BS.

Bill, it's no different than when I worked in the medical field. When something went wrong in the operating room and the patient died, the lawyers for the patient's family filed suit against everyone from the surgeon down to the person that mopped the floor. I was only involved in one of those in the 15 years I spent working in that field, but I can assure you that I was damned glad I had malpractice insurance and I was represented by the insurance company lawyers. The call is yours, but I would recommend insurance if you are dealing with the public, especially in a NH setting where bad things can easily happen.

Good luck,

Gary

Gary You said it The lawyers will go after whomever they can get the most from . Defiantly think it's good to have the,coverage and it doesn't"t cost that much. As I said they Insurance companies will go back and forth and then settle.
I'm very aware of how I set thing up on a gig for that reason.

Umbrella policies are great. I have one, but I'm not sure if I'm covered when playing, because I'm not driving or in my home.

I know the umbrella policy does not cover equipment when playing. It's covered when transporting in the vehicle that's insured.

I had a drunk once pull Pa speakers over on himself and a beautiful 335. I paid for his trip to the ER to get checked out. He was ok; the 335 wasn't.

OH, the drunk was a friend.


Russ

Still,don't forget that claim has to be based on the "proximate cause of the loss", which is simply what premises defect or personal action set the the damage or injury in motion. Businesses have the equivalent coverage of a homeowners. They have premises med pay, which covers injuries regardless of fault up to $5000. Then there is liability for their negligence,both bodily injury and property damage to others.

An entertainer,however,might have exposure to personal acts,and claims arising from a faulty set up or chords etc. With a paid entertainer, his homeowners wouldn't respond unless he had an umbrella policy like Bill has.

Bernie
Forty five years in the insurance business.

Really? Faulty chords are that dangerous? I have to train the mixolydic jazz scale...
Or did you mean "cords" ?

But honestly, maybe I should also check whether my general liability insurance would cover accidents that happen while being commercially active.
Presently I'm about to take out a music instrument insurance covering theft/burglary and damage, as I got to know that my home contents insurance doesn't cover items used for commercial purposes.

That was funny Rosetree. Inadvertent, I assure you.

The musicians union offers reasonable rates for liability insurance. I was able to buy single event insurance when a venue required it, and most, if not all, of the cost was included in the contract.
Ciao,
Jerry

I have a million dollar liability umbrella on my home...State Farm. It doesn't cover any commercial activities. If I'm doing a volunteer gig, then maybe so.

I've asked a few of the activity directors of places I play to see what they could find out. We'll see if I get any response there.

From discussions with them, I found few of my musician playing friends carry any business liability. A shirt tail cousin I have that's in the entertainment business carries a policy that runs him $1,000 a year in premium. He told me he broke a $900 glass door at one of the places he plays and his insurance covered.

My insurance agent, whom I've known for years, told me he sees a number of clients pay for claims out of their own pockets when they mistakenly think their home owner policy will cover a business claim.

Interesting. I'm still doing some research, with my agent, on this.

Some years back a venue started insisting I had liability insurance. I joined the Musicians Union in the UK as this includes liability cover and was still cheaper than a specialist policy.

Accidents happen.

A friend of mine was playing keyboard at a dance when someone opened an exit door, and knocked over his pole mount speaker. The corner of the speaker hit him in the head and caused him to bleed. The injury looked worse than it really was because he was taking a blood thinner. He was rushed to the hospital and fortunately his medical insurance took care of the bill.

Good thing it hit him not his keyboard. The keyboard wasn't covered.

The next time he played there, he wore a hard hat, and the audience found it pretty humorous.

Jerryghr

Got a follow up call from my insurance agent State Farm . As I'm sure most of you figured out my homeowners insurance won't cover anything that I do as far as playing for money.

A business policy would be required and they couldn't even figure out how to do that. So if I decide to do anything with insurance I'm going to have to look someplace other than State Farm.

State Farm was unable to provide me with anything when I inquired of them. I ended up with Erie Insurance Exchange, which gave me a great premium price.

Gary