Wedding Band need insurance - help?

darley.wood

Hi,

We've got a great venue and nearly everything's sorted however they've asked us to supply the public libaility insurance for our evening live band.

The band is our friends band which is more of a hobby for them rather than a main business. Theyve played some weddings and events (maybe 10 year, as I said, its a hobby band), but always on either private land or the venue already has PLI in place and doesnt need the band to supply their own.

Does anyone know of any cost effective policies or where to buy them from? Or companies that include the cost of adding on band liability to wedding insurance? We've told them we'll cover it as we dont want to make them pay for it when we've asked them to play our wedding - plus they're already doing us a massively discounted rate. But at the same time we dont want to be holding a large insurance policy cost.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

LEJC

I was under the impression that it was the venue that supplied this type of insurance to cover its guests and employees rather than the band needing to provide.

What type of venue is it....if it caters to the public and employs staff it should already have PLI and I would guess that potentially the cheapest and easiest option would be for them to have an extension on their existing policy....do they have one...

Otherwise if you have wedding insurance,contact their helpline for some advice they will probably be able to point you in the direction of some companies although I think the best thing to do is agree to pay a one off premium to your venue to top up theirs

firebird082

Most wedding insurance has Public Liability insurance included - wouldn't that cover your band? Alternatively, I would expect the venue to hold PLI in any case.

darley.wood

Thanks LEJC,

Its a barn venue, very lovely and fully licensed as we're getting married and holding our reception there. The venue have come back to me to say the best way for them to feel that its 'sorted' is for it to be an extension of our wedding insurance. We were thinking of doing it through Debenhams but I havent been able to google or see anything on them offering it. I'll see if I can call them.

Looing around there's arguments from forums that say all bands that play to the public should have PLI anyways, others say that the venue should always have it - tricky to know which one the responsibilty falls on!

All i know is that im in a situation where neither band nor venue have any.

darley.wood

firebird082 - yes some of them do - but when you read the small print it says it only covers the bride and groom - NOT any third parties or guests. So only if we personally caused damage or injury - not if anyone else did.

i am surprised the venue is asking for it - but they are.

sl_jones

I believe my venue only covers for the bride and groom, the Dj has to have his own and caterers and it's a manor.

I took our Wedding Insurance with Debenhams, they cover for up to £2.5m for Public liability insurance for £57. Plus you will get a £20 gift voucher 60 days after your policy is opened, I plan on using mine either twoards my wedding shoes, bridesmaid dress, or the suit hire.

ellay864

My husband is a mobile DJ and he has his own PLI, many venues ask him for proof of it. If one of our speakers for example was to fall then we would have to be covered for any damage/injury to anybody. The venue won't take on liability for something outside of their control. A lot of places also ask to see proof of PAT testing, just worth bearing that in mind also

darley.wood

Yes we've given confirmation of PAT tested equipment (as it is) so if they need to check the proper stickers/whatever else they need to thats fine.

I had a chat to some wedding insurers and they cover public liability but only for the band members against personal injury or damage - but NOT their equipment! So as you said, if a speaker fell on a guest, they wouldnt be covered but if they personally fell on a guest, they would be? Seems silly to me but it counts it out as the venue have specifically said it needs to cover the equipment.

The vneue apparently DOES have public libaility insurance, but again I suspect it only covers guests - the band need to bring their own to cover equipment. which is proving very hard to find unless its specalist musicans insurance - which is rather expensive considering its literally only for one night!

Derwent

Hiscox are usually pretty good for this kind of insurance

Rodders53

Googling 'Public Liability Insurance Musicians' finds

http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/join-the-mu/benefits/

https://www.ampband.co.uk/

If this band is playing professionally 10 times per year they really ought to have this insurance in place - even on private property - and may be covered by any insurance they have for the instruments and equipment that is being used away from the home?

darley.wood

Thanks rodders53 - at the moment they wont be playing that many gigs (one of them has just had a baby and another memeber's wife will be due at Christmas) - as its a hobby band they generally arent appearing this year other than a summer fete locally, and our wedding!

Im going to see what the venue come back with as the lady I spoke to did not know the exact ins and outs of it so was going to check with the owner on levels of insurance/what their cover covers and whether its just equipment they need, or PLI they need! as she rejected my wedding insurance cover as it didnt cover the equipment - which a number of PLI policies dont (that Ampband just includes PLI and offers a 'discount' on equipment insurance!)

no offence to health and safety rules, but we're trying not to spend a fortune on it but at the same time making sure we have everything covered 'just in case'. no point buying a cheap PLI policy to just find it wont actually tick all the boxes the venue needs.

*sigh*

as if i didnt have enough to organise! however - having them play is still a top priority for us as they're a great band even if only 'hobbyists' and it means friends and family get to join in.