Get-in · audience · venue conditions
Liability insurance for a self-employed performer
The risk of a performance rarely lies in the performance itself. It lies in the hour before and after: cables, stands, a heavily loaded trolley and a venue you do not know.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een zelfstandige artiest.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
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- 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.
In brief
Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) pays for injury and property damage that you cause to others. For a performer that mainly means the get-in: a stand that falls over in a full auditorium, a cable a member of the audience trips over, a speaker that hits a door frame, a mark on a parquet floor. Check, therefore, that the policy expressly includes the get-in and get-out and transport to the venue, and not just the performance itself.
Your your own instruments and sound equipment do not fall under this insurance. A liability insurance never pays for damage to your own belongings. There is instrument or business contents insurancefor that. If you also hire in backline, lighting or sound, the care, custody and control exclusion comes into play as well: hired equipment is in your care and damage to it is not covered as standard.
Note too what the venue agreement says. Many venues and festivals place liability for damage to the building and to their technical equipment on the performer and require a minimum sum insured. Liability accepted by contract that goes further than liability in law under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code is usually excluded on the AVB. Read that provision before you sign, not after something has been broken.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
Where stage work founders
Four points that make the difference between a payout and a refusal at performances.
The audience close to the set-up
Visitors walking into a stand or tripping over cabling produce the most common injury claim. Insurers look at what you did about prevention: taped-down cables, weighted feet, barriers around the set-up. Record the set-up with a photograph before you start. When a claim comes in months later that is often the only evidence that barriers really were in place.
Fire, pyrotechnics and smoke are separate
Effects with naked flames, pyrotechnics or smoke machines are subject to a separate assessment or exclusion. Without advance notification, damage from a fire detector going off or scorch marks on a drape is not insured. The venue imposes requirements here too. The venue's licence is no substitute for cover of your own.
Hearing damage and the duty of care
If you work with accompanists, technicians or band members whom you hire in, Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code may apply to you: your duty of care extends to people working for you outside a contract of employment. At high sound levels that means hearing protection and measurement. Without an employers' liability section such a claim is not covered.
Transport, trailer and loading
Damage caused with a car or a coupled trailer falls under the compulsory motor insurance (Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM)) and is excluded on the AVB. Damage to the load itself is another policy again. For that, look at goods in transit insurance. Loading and unloading falls under one cover or the other depending on the conditions.
What does your premium depend on?
- Number of performances per year: and the average size of the venue
- Bringing your own equipment: setting up raises the risk of loss
- Effects with fire or smoke: requires a separate agreement in writing
- Hiring in technicians or musicians: brings employers' liability into play
- Performances abroad: determines the territorial limits needed
- Sum insured and excess: venues often set a minimum for this
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | Musical instrument insurance |
|---|---|---|
| You break the theatre's door frame with a flight case | Yes | No |
| A stage technician gets your cable reel on his foot | Yes | No |
| Your amplifier falls off the tail lift onto the street while unloading | No | Yes |
| Your guitar is stolen from the van outside the hotel overnight | No | Provided that |
| A hired lighting set is damaged while it is in your use | No | No |
| The council fines you for exceeding the noise limit | No | No |
Equipment you hire falls between the two columns: that needs a care, custody and control clause or an arrangement with the hire company.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Are my instruments insured on the AVB?
No. A liability insurance only covers other people's losses for which you are liable, never your own possessions. For instruments, amplifiers and lighting and sound equipment you need a separate material damage insurance, on which transport and time away from your own address have to be expressly included. Check the cover in the car and while at a venue as well.
I damage a venue's floor. Is that covered?
Usually yes, if the venue is not classed as hired or in your care and you are liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. If you hire the venue yourself, tenant's liability comes into play and that has to be insured separately. Check who is formally the hirer: with a booking through a promoter that is often not you.
The promoter cancels. Does the insurance pay my fee?
No. A lost fee is pure financial loss under a contract and falls outside public and employers' liability insurance. For the cancellation risk around a concert or festival there is events insurance, which is usually taken out by the promoter. What you can do yourself is include a cancellation clause in your booking agreement.
What if I discover damage after a performance?
Report it to your insurer as quickly as possible. Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to report an incident without unnecessary delay and to cooperate in assessing the loss. Gather the venue agreement, photographs of the set-up and the contact details of the technician on site. Do not pay anything out of your own pocket in advance, because that pre-empts the insurer's judgement.
Read more
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