This article started over a coffee in the Lloyd’s Building with Reg Brown, the Chairman of the Insurance Museum, on 27 August 2024.
During a conversation about the work of the Museum, for reasons I can’t quite remember, I mentioned that I am a freelance music journalist alongside my day job working with insurance companies at Aberdeen. At the mention, Reg’s eyes lit up.
“Did you hear that Oasis announced they were reforming today?” he said. “I wonder what would happen if they split up on tour. Are they covered for that?”
He had a point. Noel and Liam Gallagher brothers putting past differences aside had seemed, until that morning, remote. Those differences included numerous physical fights, a lot of verbal mudslinging at one another and, finally, a messy and very public break-up in 2009. That tabloid-friendly narrative had, at times, completely overshadowed their music.
It seemed like Reg was on to something with that enquiry, and neither of us knew the answer: would Oasis be insured if they messily broke up all over again on tour?
Occupation: Rock ‘N’ Roll Star
Lots of things can be insured when a band or artist goes on tour. These are major events with lots of moving parts, and lots of things that have either a real or intrinsic value, which naturally should be insured.
There are significant costs and expenses involved with concerts that can get out of control, and so cover can be taken against those. And then there are the many, many things can go wrong that might impact a performance actually going ahead – ranging from the venue burning down, to extreme weather at an outdoor festival, to civil commotion, to computer system failure. These things can and do happen, and specific cancellation cover is typically taken against most of these, depending on the event and where it’s taking place.
The specific cover we’re interested in here is non-appearance – in other words, the risk of an artist not being able to perform – which is typically taken out alongside cancellation cover. Both policies are usually underwritten by specialty lines insurers.
“Non-appearance covers death, accident, illness and unavoidable travel delay,” explains Martin Lawson, Head of Speciality Insurance at Dale Underwriting Partners, who operate Syndicate 1729 at Lloyd’s. “Those four areas are your four cornerstones for this type of cover. There’s exclusionary language associated with those like pre-existing injuries and illnesses, and that’s where insureds then go into filling out a detailed medical questionnaire.”
If that sounds similar to the process we’d go through ourselves when taking out life assurance or travel insurance, that’s because it’s really no different. An insurer will use judgment about what can be insured and what can’t be, based on whether the injury or health condition is minor, has been fully treated or is likely to re-occur, and whether it is recent or buried in their back catalogue. If they’re happy to insure non-appearance because of it, it can impact the premium. If they’re not happy to insure it, it will be excluded. All very familiar.
There are other things that won’t be covered. Failure to secure the correct visas for a touring band that lead them to not being able to travel to perform wouldn’t be covered. That’s not an unavoidable travel delay – with the right organisation, that is entirely avoidable. Various extensions can be taken on a base non-appearance policy – for example, a family member of a band falling ill, which might lead to a tour being cancelled. Just like the artist’s cover, that extension will include exceptions for the age and pre-existing conditions of the family member.
“You’re always looking for the sudden and unforeseen cover trigger,” says Lawson. “That’s the principal of insurance generally together with the trigger being outside of the insured’s control, and there’s really no difference when it comes to non-appearance policies.”
Cigarettes And Alcohol
Bands throughout the history of music have often had a reputation for, shall we say, partying a little too hard on tour. This is a family-friendly post, and we don’t need to say more than that.
Again, the principals we’re all used to when completing the questions for a life assurance policy apply here also, albeit with a bit of nuance. The specialty carrier isn’t usually too specific about the number of units of alcohol consumed each week, for example, whereas the artist’s life assurance underwriter should be. We have to remember that the cover the speciality lines insurer is providing here is insurance against non-appearance, and the inability for an artist to perform. Non-appearance specifically through drugs or alcohol is excluded, and wouldn’t be covered by the three obvious cornerstones of the cover that Lawson describes – death, accident or illness.
“That’s a very strict exclusion,” says Lawson. “Then again, over the years, the touring lifestyle of artists has changed for the better for everyone – not just for the insurers, but also for the artists.”
Columbia
Over the years, Noel Gallagher has aimed a number of disparaging remarks toward the south of England and its capital. In spite of that, lurking on the first Oasis album was a track called ‘Columbia’, written about Noel’s favourite hotel in West London. And let us not forget that the greatest number of dates on the Oasis tour in 2025 were held not in their home town of Manchester, but at Wembley Stadium in North London.
These facts are included as a pretty tenuous segue into being able to talk about the role of London in the insurance of concerts.
“The US is by far the biggest market for event insurance,” explains Lawson. “That includes everything from conferences and exhibitions to major sporting events, and very large music tours across America. After that, it’s the UK, and then Europe in terms of where the risks come from that we are insuring. In terms of where that risk is written and where the capacity is provided from, the majority of capacity in this market sits in London at Lloyd’s.”
Some of this is because of London’s reputation as an insurance centre and some of it is because of the unique marketplace for the syndication of risks that Lloyd’s offers. While some events and tours could easily be insured by a single large carrier or MGA in the US or Europe, the larger events will need to be spread across various underwriters. Lloyd’s is really the only marketplace that exists to split risk efficiently in this way, just as it is for any risks that would give all but the largest insurers massive indigestion if they tried to swallow it whole. Dale are one of a number of speciality insurers at Lloyd’s offering this type of cover.
Lawson explains that very often a tour won’t be able to happen unless an insurance policy can be purchased. The financial risks a band or artist would be exposed to would be too great if they were unable to perform, and didn’t have insurance in place. Anything that we would struggle to pay out for ourselves without some significant or ruinous financial challenge should be insured against, just as we insure our houses and cars. Similar to massive capital or infrastructure projects, insurance is often the thing that means that project can proceed. The same is true with tours.
Proof, I like to think, that insurance is more rock ‘n’ roll than it gets credit for.
Don’t Look Back In Anger
But let’s get back to the question from Reg that prompted this exploration of concert insurance: would Oasis be insured if they had to cancel their tour because they split up while on the road?
“No,” says Lawson.“ There’s no specific cover within the policy for a band splitting up on tour and it would be really hard to price efficiently. So no, it definitely wouldn’t be covered.”
As the Oasis reunion tour approaches to its natural end you have to imagine that someone, somewhere, is breathing a sigh of relief, while also keeping their fingers firmly crossed.
Mat Smith
Mat Smith is Head of Insurance Clients at Aberdeen Investments and a freelance music journalist for Electronic Sound, Clash, Further. and Pooleyville.
