Do DJs Need Insurance? (Must Have Info)

Although some might find it hard to believe, DJs have the possibility to get insurance because of their work. And obviously I’m not talking about their car’s insurance monthly payments or the medical coverage that they decide to purchase, but rather I’m talking about having some insurance in case something goes wrong with their gear or equipment. Now, a more important question should be: is it really necessary? Is paying for insurance a worthy investment or is it just a waste of money? 

While having equipment and theft insurance is certainly ideal if you tend to DJ a lot of house parties, weddings, and other events, it’s certainly not necessary and something that you can skip on if you are on a budget.

However, if you are serious about this business or are a professional DJ, you might want to protect your gear with one of the several insurance options on the market. If this is the case, there’s the chance that your equipment is worth thousands of dollars. Paying a few bucks monthly is certainly a worthy investment for protecting it, especially if there’s a lot of drinks and drunk people near your gear.

This is just for equipment insurance though. There are other types of insurance that the owner of the venue might require that you have in order for him to hire you. This is something that is often seen in some clubs, and if you are looking for opportunities to play sets on those venues, liability insurance might be required. And even if it’s not required, it’s so useful that I would personally recommend that you go for it.

General liability and equipment insurance are not the only types of insurance that are available for DJs though. There are actually a few other insurances that many companies provide to the general DJ population. If you want to know more about this, please read on!

DJ Insurance: Yay or Nay?

While the decision to get DJ insurance will depend a lot on each specific person, I would personally recommend that you definitely get it. This is especially true if have higher-end equipment that you can’t afford to lose. There are several reasons why DJ equipment insurance is important. Some of these reasons include:

Protection from theft

This is one of the main reasons why DJs have insurance. Some might not agree with me, but equipment theft is a much bigger problem than most realize, and I have personally heard stories of DJs losing thousands of dollars in microphones, controllers, mixers, and more. Equipment theft usually happens when the DJ is moving his gear to a venue. He might have a van to move everything and in the process of transporting the gear to the venue, somebody sneakily takes something from the van without anyone realizing it. 

But this is not the only way that theft occurs obviously. Some DJs have had their mics stolen while the event is actually taking place, and there have been cases of even the venue organizers themselves stealing things from DJs. This is often seen in more informal house parties and similar events that do not have so much formality. 

If you are a DJ that has its own gear and uses it to play on weddings and other private events, I would strongly recommend that you at least consider getting the equipment insurance. I would personally get equipment insurance asap if I were to play at a house party because theft is a very common occurrence on those events. 

This is simply because all those DJ equipment is very expensive. If you want to know more about why DJ equipment is so expensive can take a look at the article by clicking on the link.

Protection from damage

This is actually one of the most important reasons why you should be getting equipment insurance for your stuff: it’s simply way too easy for somebody to thrash your gear, accidentally or not. In fact, one of the most common ways that DJs lose their gear is somebody leaving a drink near their equipment without them realizing it. And when the person goes to grab his drink, he accidentally spills it on thousands of dollars worth of precious gear, stopping the party in the process. 

Another very common way that DJs often lose their stuff is by somebody tripping with the speakers’ cables, making them crash onto the ground. This kind of damage will also be covered if you purchase equipment insurance, and you should really consider getting it if you play on smaller venues where there isn’t much space to arrange cables in an ideal way. 

The same thing often happens with CDJs and controllers. Aside from people tripping on cables making the gear fall off the table, other things that might happen include elbow bumps by either a venue goer or the DJ itself, and other things. I recently saw a really funny video of somebody destroying thousands worth of DJ equipment in the most unbelievable way. As you will appreciate from the video, accidents can happen in the most bizarre ways.

General Liability Insurance

If you want to know what general liability insurance is you can click on the link to get to an article from Wikipedia.

Some might consider this the most important insurance that a DJ can have. This insurance simply protects you in case that you are liable for an accident, or any kind of unfortunate incident in an event. Examples include you accidentally damaging a venue’s microphone, spilling a drink on their equipment, somebody suffering an injury because of you leaving stray cables in a heavily transited area, among other things. If this happens and somebody sues you, then depending on the terms, the insurance will provide financial coverage. 

There are many venues out there that force anyone playing on their space to have liability insurance, DJs included. This is especially common on more established or higher-end clubs on bigger cities, and if you are going to be playing on a venue of the caliber and don’t have it, it might be important to talk with the venue owners about it so that you don’t fall into some kind of legal issue.

Now, most venues have their own insurance, and they have to option to purchase extended insurance. This insurance has the benefit of extending the coverage to even performers playing on the venue, DJs included. If the club or bar that you are going to be mixing on has this type of insurance, then there’s the chance that you won’t need an individual one for yourself. Again, always talk with the event organizer about this to make sure their insurance covers you too.

How Much Does DJ Insurance Cost?

Now that you know the benefits of getting the proper insurance, something that you might be wondering how much does it actually cost in the first place. And the truth is that while it depends a lot on the company that is giving you the insurance, it’s in general not very expensive. First of all, there are several different plans available for DJs, including ones where you pay monthly and daily liability insurance for events. The specific plan that you choose will depend a lot on how often you play on venues, among other factors. In general, you can expect to pay from 75 dollars for insurance for a single day, and if you are willing to pay monthly, you can expect to pay between 15 to 50 dollars more or less.