EVENT INSURANCE
A festival is a crowd, a bar, a stage and a budget that only pays back if the gates open. Underwriters look at each of those separately. Here is what they ask about, what each cover does, and where festivals get stuck.
Premiums and outcomes described are specific to this client and indicative only. Your own terms will depend on your circumstances and the insurer.
THE SHORT ANSWER
What insurance do I need for a music festival or concert in Australia?
Many music festivals and concerts need $20 million public liability, event cancellation for the ticketed budget, and non-appearance cover if a headline act carries the show. Underwriters price the liability on attendance, a standing crowd, alcohol, security and temporary structures, and at least one specialist underwriter's proposal form asks for a copy of the risk management plan once any one event reaches 2,000 people. Cancellation is usually insured on the costs and expenses you would lose, and priced against that sum insured. For a large festival, start six to twelve months out, because cancellation has to be bound and paid well before the gates open.
Premiums vary widely from event to event. Festival premiums are priced individually on attendance, crowd type, alcohol, security, structures and claims history, so we do not publish indicative figures. Your quote will itemise premium, fees, GST and stamp duty.
Our events specialist
Shaneel Gounden
Account Executive
On a festival, underwriters generally look closely at the risk management plan. They are most comfortable when security and temporary structures are handled by third-party contractors carrying their own insurance, and alcohol is rated per bar staff member on top of the base premium.
Previously in the Entertainment and Sports team at Marsh, placing event liability, cancellation and prize cover, then in events at Aon.
General information only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider the relevant PDS and TMD before deciding, and cover is subject to the policy terms.
Underwriters generally look closely at the risk management plan on larger or public events. At least one specialist underwriter's proposal form asks for a copy once any one event reaches 2,000 people, along with a site map for larger outdoor sites. Expect to send it with the submission.
Insurers prefer a licensed third-party security contractor that carries its own public liability, with crowd control, screening and bag checks assigned to them in the contract. Some wordings exclude crowd control liability unless that arrangement is in place.
Acceptable with the right liquor licence and every bar worker holding RSA. It is usually rated per bar staff member on top of the base premium, and underwriters ask who holds the licence and who runs the bars.
Fine if the venue supplies them. Otherwise underwriters prefer a third-party staging contractor with its own insurance, and may ask about riggers' tickets, inspections and whether seating is anchored.
Commonly excluded unless a licensed pyrotechnician runs them and gives you proof of their own insurance. Some small-event products exclude fireworks outright, so check before you commit to the show design.
Treatment varies. At least one published wording excludes injuries from crowd surfing, moshing and stage diving unless signs prohibiting it are displayed near the stage and at the entrance. Other wordings treat it differently, so check yours.
| Cover | What it pays for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Public liability | Injury to attendees and damage to other people's property | $20M is the usual requirement. Excess usually $500 to $1,000. Does not cover your own crew's or volunteers' injuries. |
| Event cancellation | Money lost if the event is cancelled, abandoned, postponed or cut short for reasons outside your control | Poor ticket sales are not covered. Communicable disease is generally excluded. Terrorism varies by insurer. |
| Adverse weather | Cancellation caused by severe weather that makes the site unsafe or unreachable | Usually an extension to cancellation. It is not rain cover: light rain that keeps people at home will not trigger it. |
| Non-appearance | Losses if a named headliner cannot perform through illness, accident or travel disruption | Many standard cancellation wordings exclude non-appearance, so it is bought as its own section, with health declarations for each named act. |
| Voluntary workers personal accident | Injury to your volunteers | Public liability will not respond to your own people. |
| Stallholders and food vendors | Their liability to your patrons | Either each vendor holds their own public liability, or they can be bundled into the organiser's policy when we place the event. |
A common misunderstanding is that public liability covers the organiser's own people. It covers injury to the public and damage to other people's property. Your crew, your volunteers and your own gear sit outside it, which is where event public liability ends and personal accident and equipment cover begin.
Pricing. The premium is priced against the sum insured, then moved by the site, weather exposure, the extensions you add and the event's history. Rates vary widely between festivals, so we price each one on its details, and minimum premiums apply.
Costs or revenue. In our events specialist's experience, most organisers insure the budget, meaning the costs and expenses they cannot get back. Bigger events often insure gross revenue, which adds the profit they would have made and needs figures to support it. Insurers also ask how many tickets are pre-sold and what your refund policy says.
Sum insured. Many wordings reduce a claim if the amount insured is below the full budget, so organisers generally insure the full amount they stand to lose. At least one published wording pays on a net loss basis. Underinsuring to save premium can cost more than it saves.
What it will not pay for. A festival that is called off because tickets are not selling is a financial failure, not an insured event. Communicable disease is generally excluded since COVID, and terrorism and civil commotion cover vary by insurer. Read more on event cancellation insurance and adverse weather cover.
Before joining Tank, Shaneel Gounden worked in the Entertainment and Sports team at Marsh and then at Aon. In his career he has placed public liability and event cancellation for large music festivals. On hard risks, the approach is to identify what underwriters will question in the risk management plan and security arrangements before the submission goes to market, so the organiser can address it, rather than after the first declines come back.
At Tank, we placed an event staging and pack-up crew's renewal after nine insurers declined the occupation, at approximately $4,700.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
QUOTE REQUEST
Tell us the event dates, venue, expected attendance and whether the crowd is standing, whether alcohol is served, who runs security, and the budget you want to protect.
Festivals that come in late with a thin risk management plan can narrow the markets willing to quote. Send us what you have and we will tell you what underwriters will ask for before we take it to market.
Last updated: 01/10/2026
