The Complete Music Insurance Guide
Everything you need to know about insuring your instruments, events, and performances.
Everything musicians, bands, DJs, venue operators, and event organisers need to know about getting properly covered.
By James Fletcher · 12 years in music industry insurance
Contents
Why Musicians Need Specialist Insurance
Standard home contents and business insurance often falls short for musicians. Most home policies exclude professional or commercial use of instruments — meaning your $3,000 guitar is covered if a burglar steals it, but not if it's stolen from your car after a gig. Business insurance typically focuses on office-based risks, not the touring, gigging, and event lifestyle of working musicians. Specialist music insurance is designed around how you actually work.
- →Home contents excludes professional/commercial instrument use
- →Business insurance misses touring and performance risks
- →ACC covers personal injury but not third-party liability
- →Event risks (cancellation, non-appearance) need dedicated cover
Equipment & Instrument Insurance
Equipment insurance is the foundation for most musicians. It covers your instruments and gear against theft, accidental damage, and loss — whether you're at home, rehearsing, performing, or on tour. Good policies cover equipment in transit, during loading and unloading, and even in temporarily unattended vehicles (though exclusions apply). For high-value or vintage instruments, look for agreed value cover that pays a fixed amount rather than a depreciated market value.
- →Cover at home, in transit, and at venues
- →All-risks policies are broadest (excluding listed exclusions)
- →Agreed value cover for vintage/rare instruments
- →Check unattended vehicle exclusions carefully
- →PA and lighting equipment can be added alongside instruments
Public Liability for Musicians
Public liability insurance protects you if you cause injury to a third party or damage their property. As a performing musician, your equipment creates genuine risks — a falling speaker, a trip hazard from cables, a light rig that fails. ACC covers personal injuries in New Zealand, but it does NOT cover claims made against you by others for injury or property damage. Public liability fills this critical gap. Many venues now require musicians and bands to hold a minimum of $1 million to $2 million public liability cover before they'll book you.
- →Covers claims from audience members, venue staff, or bystanders
- →Equipment damage to third-party property included
- →Increasingly required by venues and promoters
- →Extends to rehearsal studios and sound checks
- →Combined with equipment insurance for best value
Event Cancellation & Non-Appearance
For concert promoters and festival organisers, event cancellation insurance is essential risk management. It covers the financial losses from cancelling, postponing, or abandoning an event due to covered circumstances — including adverse weather for outdoor events, artist non-appearance due to illness, and a range of other insured perils. Non-appearance cover specifically protects against headline artist or performer cancellation. Both covers require advance purchase — you can't buy cancellation insurance after the threat has materialised.
- →Reimburses non-recoverable costs: venue, production, marketing
- →Weather insurance (pluvious cover) for outdoor events
- →Non-appearance cover for headline acts
- →Buy before the threat is known — insurers exclude known risks
- →May cover postponement costs as well as outright cancellation
Music Venue Insurance
Music venue operators have unique insurance needs that combine elements of commercial property, public liability, and entertainment risk. Cover typically includes property damage to the building and contents, public liability for patrons and staff, employers' liability, liquor liability, and business interruption. Entertainment-specific covers like equipment breakdown, event cancellation, and performer non-appearance can be added. Specialist entertainment venue insurance packages these together more efficiently than standard commercial policies.
- →Property: building, contents, and equipment
- →Public liability: audiences, patrons, staff
- →Employers' liability for all staff
- →Liquor liability if licensed
- →Business interruption cover
Insurance for Music Teachers
Private music teachers face a distinct set of risks. Professional indemnity insurance protects against claims arising from your teaching advice or methods — a claim that poor tuition damaged a student's technique or hearing, for example. Public liability covers injury or damage during lessons. If you teach from home, check that your home insurance covers the business use of your property. If you have employees or other tutors, employers' liability is legally required.
- →Professional indemnity for teaching advice and methods
- →Public liability during lessons (studio and mobile teaching)
- →Home business endorsement if teaching from home
- →Equipment cover for instruments used in teaching
- →Online tuition is increasingly insurable
Recording Studio Insurance
Recording studios house expensive and sensitive equipment — recording desks, microphones, monitoring systems, synthesisers, and client instruments. Studio insurance typically combines equipment cover with public liability, business interruption, and sometimes professional indemnity. The accidental loss or damage of client recordings is a specific risk that standard policies may not cover — specialist studio cover addresses this. Consider also cyber liability if you store client data.
- →All-risks equipment cover for recording gear
- →Client property in your care, custody, and control
- →Loss of client recordings or session data
- →Business interruption for equipment failure
- →Public liability for visiting clients and session musicians
Choosing the Right Cover
The right music insurance depends on how you work and what your biggest risks are. A solo musician who gigs at local bars has very different needs to a full touring band or a festival promoter. Start by listing your equipment and its replacement value, then consider your liability exposure (how many people could be affected by your activities), and finally think about income risks from cancellation or non-appearance. A specialist music insurance adviser can help you identify gaps and find the most cost-effective cover for your situation.
- →List all equipment and current replacement values
- →Consider how many people attend your events
- →Think about income loss if you couldn't perform
- →Check what your venue or promoter requires
- →Use a specialist adviser — general brokers miss music-specific risks
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