Music downloads not covered by insurance

Music downloads not covered by insurance

16 July, 2007 | 4.58AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: digital djing, digital music, insurance, laptop dj

Digital DJing and iPods might be the norm, but if you lose your music download collection to computer viruses you won’t be covered by insurance, a British consumer group warned today.

Collections wiped out by hard drive failure were also omitted from policies offered by 46 insurance firms surveyed by magazine Computing Which?.

Only 22 out of the insurance providers gave any sort of cover for music and other digital downloads.

These applied in the event of fire, flood, storm or theft.

But none of the insurance companies offered cover for downloads in the event of hardware or mechanical failure.

It means digital DJs like Sasha (pictured) won’t be covered if the laptop dies.

Computing Which? editor Abigail Waraker called on insurance firms to provide full cover for all digital content.

“Downloading music online is widely accepted now as being the easiest and most convenient way to buy music,” she said.

“Music lovers know it, the music companies know it - but it seems insurance companies are determined to stay behind the times.”

Laptop DJs look out. You aren’t automatically covered if you take your laptop outside the home.

This requires additional personal possessions cover as part of an insurance contents policy, Which? said.

What’s more some insurers put a cap of £1,000 or £2,000 on claims for digital downloads.

This limit should easily cover the average digital music collection which costs £257 to replace, Which? said, but many DJs have collections that are worth much much more.

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