Liability insurance for a band
A band is usually not an employer and often not a legal entity. That means the first question after a loss is not whether there is cover, but who is actually insured.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
This page in another language: Nederlands
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
- Independent advice
- Several insurers
- Switching arranged
- Help with claims
In brief
Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) is there for injury and property damage to third parties. For a band that damage almost always arises around the performance: a speaker stand falling over, a monitor sliding off the stage, a visitor tripping over cables along the side, a door frame or lift that gives way while the gear is carried in. Who caused the damage often cannot be established, and that makes the insured persons clause more important than for a sole trader.
Arrange, therefore, that all members and the regular crew are named as insured on the policy. If the band is a partnership, an association or a foundation, you insure that legal form and include the members as insured. If there is no formal entity, one member takes out the insurance and the others have to be expressly included. Without that endorsement, the member who dropped the speaker is personally liable, with his own private policy which excludes acting in a business capacity.
Three things fall outside it as standard. Your own instruments and backline are your own property and are never covered on a liability policy. That needs a separate material damage insurance. Hired equipment falls under the care, custody and control exclusion. And damage caused with the tour bus or a coupled trailer falls under the compulsory insurance in Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) and is excluded on the AVB; see also the trailer insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
Independent, personal, sorted quickly
We compare your business liability insurance (AVB) across dozens of insurers, explain where the real differences lie, and arrange the switch from start to finish — without you having to chase it yourself.
Business liability insurance (AVB)
Compare
Get coveredWhy arrange it through Finass Verzekert?
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
Independent
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
One fixed adviser
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
Switching without hassle
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What is different for a band
Four points that determine whether a claim lands anywhere for a band.
Who is the policyholder
A band without a legal form is legally a collection of self-employed people. Agree who takes out the policy and make sure the other members and the touring technician are named as co-insured on the policy schedule. If the line-up changes, report it. A new member who has not been declared falls outside the group of insured persons.
Stage, venue and lift
Damage to the building you play in (a damaged floor, a dented lift, a broken door) is damage to property and is in principle covered, unless the venue counts as hired by you. Tenant's liability is then needed, and that has to be insured separately. Check who is the hirer under the contract. With a booking by a promoter that is usually not you.
Band members among themselves and hearing damage
If a member suffers loss, the AVB only provides cover if insured persons count as third parties towards one another and if the band is liable. If a technician or musician is hired in, Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code can impose a duty of care, including hearing protection and a safe get-in. Without an employers' liability section that claim is not covered.
Hired backline and lighting
If you hire in amplification, drums or lighting sets, you have those items in your care and the care, custody and control exclusionapplies. The hire company will charge you for the damage all the same. Choose then between a care, custody and control clause, the hire company's insurance or a written arrangement that the risk stays with the hire company.
What does your premium depend on?
- Number of members and crew: everyone who counts as an insured person
- Number of performances per year: and the size of the venues
- Bringing your own equipment: the get-in is a risk factor of its own
- Legal form: a partnership, a foundation or separate self-employed people
- Tours abroad: determines the territorial limits
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Basic | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| A visitor trips over a cable your drummer had laid alongside the stage | Yes | Yes |
| The venue's door frame is damaged while carrying the backline inside | Yes | Yes |
| A lighting set you hired falls off the stands and is beyond repair | No | Yes |
| A visitor claims hearing damage after a performance in a small venue | Provided that | Provided that |
| Your own amplifier falls while the stage is being cleared | No | No |
| The trailer with equipment hits a parked car while reversing | No | No |
Extended here means a policy on which care, custody and control and tenant's liability are insured separately.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Are all band members covered?
Only if they are named as insured on the policy. In a partnership or foundation, partners and directors are usually included automatically, but individual members of an informal band are not. Ask for a list of insured persons on the policy schedule and report a change in the line-up straight away, so that no period arises in which a member performs uninsured.
Our trailer with equipment is damaged in transit. What now?
Damage the trailer causes to others falls under the motor insurance of the towing vehicle; Article 2 WAM requires that insurance and the AVB excludes motor vehicle damage. Damage to the load itself belongs on a goods in transit or instrument insurance. With that policy, check whether transport and time in the vehicle away from your own address are included.
A visitor is injured by our set-up. What does the insurer expect?
A report without unnecessary delay, as Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires, and evidence about the situation on site. Think of photographs of the barriers and the cable runs, the stage plan and the details of the venue technician. Liability is assessed under Article 6:162 DCC: could you reasonably have taken measures to prevent this.
Does the insurance cover damage from drinking or vandalism afterwards?
No. What an insured person causes deliberately or through recklessness remains unpaid under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, and damage in a dressing room soon falls under that. A fine from the venue or an order from the council is not insurable either: those are penalties, not compensation for an injured party's loss.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB)The main page
- Liability insurance for a self-employed performerGet-in, audience, venue conditions
- Liability insurance for a self-employed musicianStage and audience, borrowed backline, instruments
- Liability insurance for a DJ businessRigging and truss, damage to venues, hired-in DJs
- Liability insurance for charity workHelp in kind, collection drives, volunteers
- Liability insurance for a theatre companyAudience in the auditorium, rigging, volunteers
- Liability insurance for an associationMembers among themselves, clubhouse, bar
- Liability insurance for a guided tour companyGroups outdoors, other people's sites, freelance guides
- Liability insurance for an artist management agencyAgency work, performers engaged ·. The contract chain