In mid-2024, Creative Australia together with Music Australia were approached by music-industry consultancy FEAT., in collaboration with Bloom Insurance, to conduct a study into the feasibility of a discretionary mutual insurance model for the music industry and examine the drivers of increased insurance premiums. This project was commissioned in September 2024. The scope was limited to an initial exploratory study, with a focus on music festivals in this first stage.
This Creative Australia summary lifts key insights from FEAT.’s report, and from the research process, for sharing with government and industry stakeholders.
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Photo: @Will.HamiltonCoates
Key insights
- Data was collected from 74 festivals, with a clear majority of those festivals being not-for-profit.
- Due to a lack of claims data, combined with the small sample size for large commercial festivals, the question of the feasibility of a discretionary mutual insurance scheme could not be conclusively answered.
- The researchers observed a reticence to engage with the study due to concerns around data sensitivity and privacy, particularly when it comes to insurance data. This raises the question of whether the sector is culturally aligned with a collective approach to managing insurance.
- Sector engagement with the study may also have been influenced by the project’s reference to an insurance mutual – a proposal that some in the sector may not wish to support or entertain.
- The project did however provide other useful insights on the factors influencing music festival insurance in Australia, covering issues such as: cancellation cover, the scope of premiums held offshore, and the drivers of rising insurance costs for different festival types.
Next steps
Creative Australia and Music Australia remain committed to ongoing collection of insurance data, both for tracking of costs over time and to inform further inquiry into potential responses to insurance challenges.
We will do this with the inclusion of additional questions regarding insurance in The Bass Line – our annual study into the economics of the music industry that began in 2025 and which has had significant industry participation and support to date.
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