What’s a music exclusion in the context of producer's E&O insurance?

Byron Pascoe: A music exclusion essentially means that you have a producer’s E&O insurance policy but music is not included yet. So, sometimes you need to have E&O well before you know what music is going to be in your film and before you have consent from the music owners to use the music.

For example: if someone is getting funding from an organization and they require that you have an E&O insurance policy well before production, you can get E&O insurance, but the music is not included yet in the policy. So, later on, once there is music chosen and the entertainment lawyer has reviewed everything, what the lawyer would do is say, months later: “now the music has been chosen, there are agreements in place, I’ve reviewed everything and I’m letting you know [insurance company lawyer] that the music has now been cleared.”

So, I would tell the lawyer for the insurer and the lawyer for the insurer would tell the insurance broker and then the insurer would say, “OK, we are removing the music exclusion. Music is now included [in the E&O policy].”

It’s oftentimes the case when music is excluded – not because there’s an issue with the song – but simply because we haven’t obtained permission yet. So, it’s OK to have a music exclusion early on but you don’t want to have a music exclusion when you’re ready for your production to actually be exploited.

Byron Pascoe is an entertainment lawyer and partner at Edwards Creative Law

Are you a producer in Canada or the US? Get a quote for producer’s E&O insurance here.

Related:

• Steps to obtaining producer's E&O insurance
• Who can give consent to have music in a film?
• Singers performing music in a film
• How can SOCAN help a film producer?
• Blurred Lines music infringement lawsuit
• Producer’s E&O clearance procedures
• YouTube: Errors and omissions insurance (E&O) – Byron Pascoe

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