This is how I believe it went down:
AdJA came up with the Idea of Insurance Coverage for DJs. They needed something to help make their offering more valuable to DJs. Buy into a membership, and get a big discount on DJ Insurance. Get the DJs in ADJA to talk about DJ Insurance, and how important that brides/grooms choose a DJ who has it over those that do not. ...Word of insurance for vendors get's around to Venues, and the venues who have had problems with hack DJs at events look at it as a great idea to require that brides bringing in their own DJs outside of the preferred vendor list be required to have Liability insurance in order to work there.
Look at over the years how many DJs have posted on the forums all of a sudden needing to purchase DJ Insurance because they have a gig booked, and the venue is requiring they get it in order to work there. ...Many posts!
Hotels, Hiltons, Marriott...All of these places NEVER required DJ Insurance up until around 2009...Maybe 2008, amd MOST hotels still do not require it. The Agency I work with...None of the DJs carried insurance for themselves EVER. Only the Agency had insurance because they were a brick and mortar business.
It's all a Money Scheme. Pay to Play so to speak. Some DJs may feel better that they have DJ Insurance, but it's just an illusion.
These insurance companies ain't paying out any money on any claims from a DJ Event. Go ahead and put a claim in...watch the insurance company deflect it.
You are essentially paying for a piece of paper only because of the once in a blue moon venue that requests it, and you don't want to look like a Non Pro, or you don't want a negative opinion of you from your clients because their venue made it seem that their DJ should have insurance if they are in business.
It's all a marketing scheme. There is no mandate that states that a DJ needs to have insurance to be able to perform and be in business. There are laws requiring you to be insured in order to Drive...and rightfully so.
Businesses who are not Brick and Mortar entities simply have no real need for insurance other than the appearance of being professional.
Ask any of these bar bands who play in public spots...Majority of them don't carry insurance...Never will! And there are never any incidents where a guest is suing a DJ due to injury, and no...DJs are not burning venues down. It has never happened.
And no...Liability insurance isn't protecting your equipment in case lightning strikes the venue, and fries your sound system either.
Buying into DJ Insurance is nothing more than "Pay to Play"
LOL. No. Just, no.
The insurance requirement has been around longer than you've been alive - you've just never really qualified until recently.
Most DJs are never solicited for proof of insurance because what they do doesn't rise much beyond the risk/requirements of the average corporate guest. Using a wall outlet and a table for your gear differs very little from the liability exposure of the average guest. The biggest risk you pose is breaking the glass door on the way in with your stuff - and they can minimized that by sending you to the loading dock.
It's in the most recent 3 decades however, that DJs started doing all kinds of dangerous things - like using smoke machines, lots of lighting on over-loaded tripods and under-rated or improperly rigged trusses. They also started scratching floors, furniture, and smashing doors with their over-loaded carts. They also started injuring themselves (and others) in these accidents. As the inconvenience, accidents, and costs started to rise many insurance companies and savvy venues quit viewing the DJ as one more guest and now treat them as they do every other contractor working on the premises.
You need insurance because without it you enter that hotel like a risky driver with no auto insurance. The venues got sick of footing the bill for the damages.