Liability insurance for a DJ business
A DJ business earns its money behind the decks, but runs its risk of loss while setting up and breaking down. That is when heavy stands, loose cables and someone else's parquet floor are all in one room.
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In brief
Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) covers injury and property damage to third parties. For a DJ business that risk lies almost entirely in the hours outside the performance itself: a speaker stand falling over in a crowded room, a truss catching a suspended ceiling, a guest tripping over a cable that has not been taped down. The legal basis is Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, and for damage caused by your own DJs and crew, Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies: as an employer you are liable for the mistakes of those working under you.
Two points deserve express attention when you apply. First the description of the business activity: if it says only 'providing music', an insurer may take the view that assembling lighting and sound structures is not included. Have setting up, rigging and operating smoke and lighting equipment written into it in so many words. Second, cover for the tenants' and users' liability of the venues you work in: screw holes, a cracked dance floor or a burnt-out spot in the ceiling of the venue.
What the AVB does not do is pay for your own kit. Decks, controllers, speakers and lighting rigs are your property and belong on a business contents insurance or on separate cover for equipment away from the business premises. For the organisational side of an event, look at the events insurance; the general product explanation is on the hub page on the AVB.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four provisions that decide matters at a DJ business more often than the level of the sum insured.
Hired equipment falls under care, custody and control
If you hire in extra line array, moving heads or a dimmer rack from a hire company for a large event, you have that property in your in your care without being the owner. The care, custody and control exclusion takes damage to it off the AVB. Hire companies do recover that loss from you, so ask for a care, custody and control clause or separate hirer's cover and set out who handles transport.
Rigging above the public is a separate question
If you hang trusses, drapes or speakers above visitors' heads, an insurer wants to know. Work with certified ratchet straps, secondary safeties and a load calculation, and keep the inspection certificate. If you do not work in the way you declared, Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code comes into play: what you should have disclosed when taking out the policy must in fact have been disclosed.
Your own DJs, freelancers and crew
For employed staff, your duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies: lifting instructions, hearing protection and working hours on night jobs. If you engage self-employed DJs or crew, Article 6:171 of the Dutch Civil Code determines whether their mistake is attributed to you. Have it established on the policy whether third parties you engage count as insured persons or only as a liable counterparty.
A cancelled performance is not property damage
If your equipment fails and the event has to stop, the client claims lost turnover and costs incurred. That is pure financial loss and is excluded under the AVB. Work with standard terms limiting your liability for consequential loss, therefore, and consider whether professional indemnity cover suits the contracts you enter into.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover and number of performances: exposure scales with the number of set-ups
- Payroll and size of the crew: decisive for the employers' liability section
- Type of locations: wedding venues weigh differently from festival sites
- Size of the lighting and sound rig: suspended structures increase the risk
- Use of freelance DJs: this affects the circle of insured persons
- Area of cover: performances abroad call for separate confirmation
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A member of your crew drops a flight case on a catering assistant's foot | Yes | No |
| A lighting stand blows over on the terrace and damages a guest's car | Yes | No |
| While breaking down, your crew tears a fire hose reel off the wall and the hotel corridor floods | Yes | No |
| Your hazer sets off the fire alarm, the venue is evacuated and the fire service charges for the call-out | No | No |
| The organiser bases his licence application on your sound plan and the local authority stops the event | No | Yes |
| A bridal couple demands its fee back because the ceremony music was cued wrongly | No | Yes |
If you supply plans, advice or calculations as well as music, part of your risk runs along professional indemnity lines.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Is damage to the dance floor or ceiling of the venue covered?
If you damage the floor, a wall or the ceiling of the venue while setting up, that is property damage to a third party. Whether it is covered depends on whether the space counts as hired by or made available to you at that moment. Without a clause for tenants' and users' liability, the insurer can rely on the care, custody and control exclusion. Have that clause included expressly, therefore.
Does the AVB cover my own decks and speakers?
No. This policy is about loss suffered by third parties through your actions. Your own possessions fall outside it. Theft from the van, a dropped controller or water damage on an outdoor stage is dealt with through business contents or equipment cover extended to property away from the business address. State whether the equipment stays in the vehicle overnight, because that is often a separate condition.
What if a visitor claims for hearing damage?
Injury to a visitor falls in principle under the AVB, provided you are liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. In practice the insurer looks at the sound levels, the arrangements with the venue and the code or protocol the organiser applies. Report a claim as soon as you know of it; Article 7:941 DCC requires you to notify the insurer as soon as you are reasonably aware.
Is my van included on this policy?
No. Damage caused with or by a motor vehicle is excluded under the AVB and belongs on a motor policy. The insurance requirement follows from Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM). If you drive the kit around yourself, look at a van insurance. Loading and unloading may fall under the AVB depending on the conditions, but this differs from insurer to insurer and you need to check it.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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