[Dixielandjazz] Liability Insurance...for a gig

[David Dustin]

I am pleased to see this topic surface.  I¹ve been worried about this too,
figuring sooner or later some venue or festival would want me to produce an
insurance certificate in order to play the gig. I¹m in the
engineering-construction business in my day job and deal with insurance
quite a bit, both for the firm and from our subcontractors. You can get a
³one-off² commercial general liability (CGL) policy on an occurrence basis
(cheapest way: coverage expires after a period of time) that will cover your
band for standard perils at an event for somewhere in the range of $150-$300
from a commercial insurance broker.

I figure an OKOM band¹s risks, outside California, are pretty much limited
to a flying beer bottle ricocheting off the tuba and onto the head of an
audience member, someone knocking his stand onto the head of an audience
member, a speaker stand collapsing onto the head of an audience member, an
out of control trombone slide careening onto the head of an audience member,
an audience member tripping over a speaker or mic cable, or the bass player
backing up and knocking some backstage person in the head with his peg head,
etc. These risks tend to be Œdirect¹ damages showing a clear cause and
effect.  (Of course, in California one might encounter claims for
Œconsequential¹ damages, such as the failure of an audience member¹s last
movie project brought about by post-traumatic stress disorder induced by the
bone player¹s lip screams in Tiger Rag, or the trad band¹s unexpected
performance of Moon River.)

Bottom line, risk management would represent a significant business cost for
a band, and needs to be carefully considered during the negotiation phase.
If insurance is going to be a requirement, you need to do some homework
quickly and pump up your quote accordingly.  Or consider taking out an
annual policy that will cover all your performances in that policy period,
which might be a prudent move in an increasingly litigious society here in
the US&A.  Your insuror will want to know approximately how many
performances you anticipate and will base the premium on factors such as
that ‹ and especially whether or not you might accept a gig in California.
I am thinking an annual policy is the way to go for my band but so far have
not been forced to give it a lot of thought. Anybody know whether there are
ways and means of buying cheap coverage for small bands?

David Dustin