Life Insurance and Income Protection for Musicians and Sound Engineers

Income Protection

Through illness or injury, how long could your savings carry you if gigs, lessons and sessions stopped?

Income protection can pay part of your income once a waiting period ends, subject to each policy’s definitions and exclusions.

Together, we can compare income protection from the insurers willing to consider your work, around your duties and pay.

An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods (how long a benefit can be paid for) and the amount. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities. Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury.

What we look at with you on income protection:

• Earnings from gigs, lessons and sessions in the 12 months before an illness or injury, and how each policy counts each type of pay
• Pay from several venues, schools or studios, if you have more than one payer, and which income each insurer counts
• Minimum hours terms, which Moneysmart says some policies have, compared with your usual week across all your music work
• Savings you could live on during the waiting period, measured in weeks of household bills
• The definition of disability in each policy, compared before you apply, since each one sets its own conditions for a claim
• Any workers compensation payments, with each scheme setting who qualifies, and whether a policy pays less while scheme payments are made
• Premiums paid outside super, which Moneysmart says are generally a tax deduction, confirmed with an accountant
• Benefit periods, which most policies offer as two or five years or up to a specific age, as Moneysmart says

Learn more about Income Protection

Life Insurance

Which people rely on your music income, and what would they need if you were no longer here?

Life cover can pay a lump sum for the people who rely on you, towards debts, daily costs and shared plans.

We’ll work through a life cover amount with you, starting from what you owe and who relies on you.

Moneysmart says life cover pays a lump sum when you die, and may also come with terminal illness cover. Outside super, the money goes to your nominated beneficiaries or your estate. In super, the trustee decides unless a valid binding nomination applies.

What we work through with you on life cover:

• A home loan, if you hold one, counted first when working out how much your beneficiaries would need
• Rent and everyday bills your gig, lesson or session income covers now, added to the total
• Your partner’s earnings and own insurance, if you have a partner, and the gap your income would leave
• The years of school fees, care and activities ahead, if you have children, priced into the amount
• Who you’ve nominated in each super fund, and whether a valid binding nomination is in place
• A packaged life, TPD and trauma policy, where life cover may be reduced by any amount paid on other claims
• Cover through an employer, if a salaried seat comes with some, which may not continue once you leave
• Your music and sound duties described on a life application with the same care as for income protection

Learn more about Life Insurance

TPD Insurance

Could a lump sum keep your home and plans on course if you could never work again?

TPD cover can pay a lump sum if you meet the policy’s definition, towards debts and the plans that matter to you.

We’ll explain each TPD definition with you, and how teaching, arranging or studio skills may be considered.

Moneysmart describes two common tests. Own occupation means you’re unable to work again in the job you were working in before your disability, and is usually only available outside super. Any occupation means you’re unable to ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience.

What we compare with you on TPD:

• Whether a policy offers own occupation cover, which looks at the job you were working in before your disability
• A TPD payment packaged with life cover, and the life cover left after a TPD payment
• Definitions that differ between funds, if you hold TPD in more than one, checked before any account is closed
• Arranging, teaching or studio work you could still do, and whether a policy’s test would look at those skills
• Activities of daily living, a test Moneysmart lists beside own and any occupation, explained before you compare policies
• How much of a mortgage or other debt, if you carry one, a lump sum would need to clear
• Where to hold TPD, inside super or outside it, and how each option affects your retirement savings
• A move from performing into teaching or studio work, and how a TPD definition may then look at the new job

Learn more about TPD Insurance

Trauma Insurance

Treatment for a serious illness can mean time away from work: what could help meet the costs?

Under a trauma policy, a lump sum can be paid when a listed condition meets its definition and isn’t excluded.

Together, we can look at the conditions each trauma policy lists, and how a lump sum would work alongside income protection.

Each trauma policy lists the conditions it covers, with a definition for each one, and those definitions can differ between insurers. New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014.

What we read with you in a trauma policy:

• Every condition named in a trauma policy, each with a definition you can ask us to explain
• Costs a lump sum might go towards, such as treatment, household bills or time away from work
• Rent, a mortgage or band costs that keep falling due while you’re not working, if you carry those costs
• Self-employed months without sick leave, if that’s you, and where a lump sum could help with the gap
• A standalone trauma policy held outside super, paid from your music income as a separate premium
• A trauma lump sum beside a monthly income protection benefit, if you hold both covers, and how the two could work together
• A lump sum amount worked out with you around treatment costs and household bills
• Savings and any income that keeps coming in, counted before a trauma amount is chosen

Learn more about Trauma Insurance

Cover in Super

How closely does the cover in your super, if you have some, match the music or sound work you do now?

Fund statements can show the cover attached to each account and what its premiums take from your balance.

Together, we’ll check the cover in each fund with you before an account is closed or changed.

Default cover inside super can usually be issued without medical checks, though it may carry pre-existing condition rules listed in the fund’s product disclosure statement (PDS). Increasing it is usually underwritten, which means you’ll usually need to answer questions and may need medical checks.

What we check in each fund with you:

• Super from several payers, if it went to several funds, and any premiums each fund takes for its own cover
• A fund chosen for a new seat or job, and any cover attached to an older account you might close
• The occupation your fund holds on file, worth looking at again after a move between playing, teaching and sound work
• Insurance attached to a fund from an earlier seat or casual work, if you have one, listed before that account is closed
• Pre-existing condition rules that default cover may carry, worth knowing about before you count on that cover
• A smaller balance in leaner years, and asking your fund what that would mean for cover
• Accounts from earlier work combined only once the insurance attached to each has been compared
• Default cover set at a fixed level by the fund, compared with the debts and plans of your own household

Learn more about Superannuation

Gigs, Lessons and Session Pay

Gigs, lessons, sessions and any salary: could describing each one help an insurer see your whole income?

Clear records of each kind of pay can help an insurer understand how your income is made up.

Together, we’ll describe each way you’re paid for an application and ask insurers how they count it.

Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks such as studying and rehearsing repertoire and musical scores prior to performances, and operating sound mixing consoles and associated equipment. Since 5 October 2021, the duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care.

What we write down with you about your pay:

• Gig and call fees, with the dates and payers shown, so a year of bookings can be added up
• Lesson income from private students or schools, if you teach, recorded separately from performing income
• Studio day rates and session fees, kept in records an insurer could ask for if you ever claim
• A salaried or contract seat, if you hold one, with payslips showing the pay and super for each period
• Royalty income, if you receive some, and asking each insurer before you apply whether that income counts
• Invoices, tax returns and fund statements kept in order with an accountant, ready if an insurer asks
• Casual calls kept in your pay records, as Fair Work says casuals don’t get most types of paid leave
• Each payer’s share of your year, so an insurer can see which work your income comes from

Learn more about Personal Insurance

Seats, Tours and Going Freelance

Leaving a seat, going freelance or starting a tour: what could change for your cover?

Checking before the change can show which cover continues, which may not and what to ask your fund.

Together, we can review your cover before a seat ends, a tour begins or your first freelance year.

Any cover that comes through your employer may not continue once you leave, so it’s worth asking your employer or fund before your last day. If you’re moving from employee to self-employed, Moneysmart suggests checking whether this affects the insurance cover through your super.

What we look at with you before the change:

• Staying with the same fund as you change jobs, where any insurance you have there will usually stay with that fund
• Your first freelance year, with savings planned as Moneysmart notes self-employed people won’t have paid holidays or sick leave
• A band becoming a company, with an accountant on the structure and your personal cover looked at separately
• Workers compensation, where some schemes treat entertainers as workers in some circumstances, and each scheme sets who qualifies
• Touring, if you tour, described as part of your work whenever an application asks about your job
• A move overseas for work, if one is planned, raised with your insurer or fund before you leave
• A contract seat ending, and asking your employer or fund what happens to any cover through the role
• Instrument insurance and public liability, which are separate from personal cover and a general insurance broker can explain

Learn more about Personal Insurance

When to Review Your Cover

Has a new seat, a freelance year or a change at home changed what you need from cover?

A change in how you work or live can be a good reason to look at your cover again.

Together, we can talk through any policy or fund statement and how it fits the music and sound work you do now.

Music and sound work can move from casual calls to a salaried seat, from playing to teaching, or into freelance studio work. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. A change at work or home is a good reason to book a conversation, and the insurer decides on any new application.

Situations worth raising with us in a conversation:

• Winning a salaried or contract seat, whether it comes with cover, and how that compares with your own, if you have some
• Leaving a seat for freelance work, and what that means for any cover through your employer or fund
• Teaching more and playing less, and whether your fund or policy still describes the job you do
• Moving from live sound into studio work, or the reverse, and how a fund records the job
• Touring more or less than before, and whether the time away changes what you’d want cover to do
• A new mortgage, a child arriving or a separation, each a reason to ask what cover your household would want now
• Age-stepped premiums, which are recalculated at each renewal, compared with the cover you’d still want
• Royalties or teaching income growing into a bigger share of your year, and how an insurer may count that pay

Learn more about Personal Insurance

Making a Claim

Who would help with the forms, reports and follow-up if you needed to claim one day?

Having help with each form and request can make the process clearer while the insurer or fund decides.

Together, we’ll lodge a claim and follow up each request with you while the insurer or fund assesses it.

Moneysmart says to speak first to whoever you bought the cover through, or your employer for cover through an employment arrangement. The insurer, or the fund for cover in super, assesses the claim, and a complaint goes first to the insurer or fund, then to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

How we help with a claim:

• Policy numbers, fund details and contact points gathered in one place before the first call
• Your duties and how your time divided across playing, teaching or sound work before you stopped, written up with you
• Payslips, invoices, tax returns or fund statements, gathered to match what the insurer requests
• Reports from your treating doctors, collected with you when the insurer asks for each one
• Workers compensation through a scheme, if the scheme covers your gig or session work, and each scheme sets who qualifies
• Other payments received during a claim, such as scheme payments, and whether a policy pays less because of those payments
• A gradual return to bookings or lessons, and whether the policy pays a partial benefit for reduced work
• If you disagree with the result, the insurer’s or fund’s complaints process comes before AFCA

Health Conditions & Illnesses

Could a health condition change the cover an insurer offers you?

Our guides explain what insurers may ask about common conditions, and a health condition doesn’t necessarily rule out cover.

We can help you prepare an application when you have a health condition or a past illness.

Underwriting is how an insurer assesses an application and decides whether to offer cover, on what terms and at what price. Possible outcomes include standard terms, a higher premium, an exclusion, a request to apply again later, or a decline.

Guides by health condition:

• Cover with a health condition: where to start
• Autoimmune conditions
• Back or joint conditions
• Blood conditions
• Cancer history
• Diabetes
• Digestive conditions
• Eye or hearing conditions
• Heart conditions
• HIV or hepatitis
• Kidney conditions
• Mental health conditions
• Neurological conditions
• Respiratory or sleep conditions
• Weight, smoking or alcohol history
• Women’s health conditions