Music Insurance – All You Ever Wanted To Know About It

Insurance is the ‘promise of reimbursement in the case of loss; paid to people or companies so concerned about hazards that they have made prepayments to an insurance company’. In simpler terms, insurance helps deal with unforeseen financial burdens. Most often we associate insurance with home, car and health but hardly without our other prized possessions. Musicians are often called eccentric, who are madly in love with music. Naturally, a musician holds his musical instrument close to heart and thinks it to be more precious than his car and home. It is essential that musicians get music insurance which protects their prized possessions.

Who Is Eligible for Music Insurance?
   
You will find several insurance companies that cater specifically to the requirements of a musician and his musical instruments. According to them, anyone and everyone who owns a prized instrument are eligible for the insurance.Insurance companies offer covers to students and amateur artists, professionals, music companyet al.

What Gets Covered?
    
Competitive premiums are offered to almost anyone looking for insurance. You can get insurance for all kinds of instrument, from the very common ones to the rare one. The best companies also offer heritage instrument insurance to safeguard your prized instruments. You can also get cover for musical accessories such as tuners, metronomes, sheets, music stands etc. Usually there is no maximum value limit on insurance, everything can get covered.

What Are the Premium Policies?
   
Different companies have different premium payment schemes. When you choose a company, you have to understand how does the company charges premium. Usually there are different premium schemes for the different musical instruments. The premiums are often tailored for specific needs. For example, if you want to insure your guitar, there are several considerations which will determine the premium you pay. Is it a professional guitar? Whether you own a bass, electric or acoustic guitar? What kind of insurance do you want? Are you looking for accidental coverage? Or are you looking for coverage from damage?

How To Pay Premiums?
   
Most insurance companies offering covers for musical instruments do not accept premiums in cash. They are quite specific in this regard and accept only checks and money orders.

How To Report Claims?
   
When the time comes for you to get the money promised under the insurance, you have to report a claim. To report a claim, you can to directly contact the company, either personally or through an e-mail or fax. You will also be required to submit a form where all necessary information are mentioned. Information such as instrument involved, item on schedule, probable amount of loss have to be explicitly mentioned in the form.

Can Your Policy Be Renewed?
   
Policies can be renewed when you notify the insurance agency in due time. Usually an insurance company expects to be told approximately 30 to 45 days before the expiry date about renewal. While renewing the policy, you have to mention your address, telephone numbers, email address again. But if you want new instruments to be insured, you have to get a new policy.

Public Liability Insurance For Musicians - Insuring What's Important

Gone are the days when musicians were not taken seriously. Today you no longer need to make it really big in life and achieve all the laurels to prove that you are a musician. The world is finally ready to embrace the new-age musicians who, with the help of the Internet, are creatinggreat music. While the new-age musicians are creating foot-holds in the musical world, they are however remaining ignorant about protecting their instruments. Public liability insurance for musicians is a must as it insures and protects prized musical instruments.

Musicians can insure under public liability and get covers for various things, such as -

•    This kind of insurance covers if you are part of a band, is a performing artist or own expensive equipment. Insurance also covers for theatre sets, film and video equipment etc.
•    A public liability insurance cover against accidental loss or damage of instruments, fire and transit damage.
•    The insurance also covers personal accident cases,
•    You can also claim public liability insurance for event cancellation, weather insurance and non-appearance.
•    If there is a professional indemnity, you can claim from the insurance
•    Coverage also includes group travel insurance for production crew and entertainers.

Tricks to Get The Best Insurance Cover
    
Whether you want a String Instrument Insurance or a general insurance for a musician, you have to be smart to get the best ones. Considering that not everyone understands insurance (and the various terms and conditions) easily, it is important to know a few tricks that will help you in the long-run.

Research On The Company   

Let's start with the good news. There are just a few insurance companies in US that cover musicians and their instruments. This means you have fewer companies to choose from and hence there's less research. Just because there are fewer insurance companies it doesn't mean you won't research on them thoroughly. You have to until you are satisfied with the services they offer.

Policies and Premiums

Once you are satisfied with the company, you should turn your attention towards the policies and premium offered. There would be policies for heritage instruments, stringed instruments, violas etc. Get one which suits you the best. You also have to know the premiums of the different policies. Remember that you won't find a fit-for-all premium and hence have to be careful to read between the lines.

Assess Your Instrument Before Insuring
   
One of the common mistakes musicians make is not assessing their instruments before insuring it. Assessing musical instruments helps you get the best coverage for your prized possession. Sometimes you don't realize that the value of your instrument has risen with time. The value of the instrument also increases when you add accessories to it.

Filing For Claims
   
Before you seal the deal with an insurance company, make sure you find claims are to be filed. If you ever need to claim the insurance money, you would want the procedures to be simple and fast. Find out whether the insurance company helps you get the claims at the earliest or not.

How to Get Concert Insurance That Suits Your Need

The life of an event manager is filled with excitement. When a person passionately organizes events, concerts and fundraisers, he can never be tired of his job. As important it is to enjoy life as an event manager, it is equally important to understand its perils and be prepared for the worst. Just as life isn’t a bed of roses, planning an event isn’t always easy. It can take days and even months to coordinate and plan everything meticulously to get things in order. Among the many things to consider while planning an event, one important consideration is getting an event liability insurance.

Importance of Insurance

If you are unsure why you need an insurance cover for your concert, read through the following situation.

You are planning the biggest concert in your area. It is touted as the next big event and can give your career the push you always needed. You have to get several things in place but you are equally worried about the many disasters that can ruin the concert. The crowds can complain of claustrophobia, there may be a stampede; the lighting may go offcausing the crowd to panic etc. Things can also go wrong with the artistes. Their instruments may get lost or be damaged, they may be bodily harmed and several other unpleasant things can happen to them. Can you foresee such things?Unfortunately you cannot. But you can be prepared if such things were to happen. You can be prepared bygetting concert insurance.
What to Check before Signing for Any Insurance

When you are convinced that you need to get the concert insured, you have to carefully pick the right cover. So how do you determine what’s right for you and what’s not. Make sure you cross-check the following points before you sign any insurance agreement –

•    Look for an event liability insurance company that offers different types of protection for different events. You shouldn’t get insurance for a sporting event instead of concert insurance. Note that there are different types of insurances for concerts, sporting events, festivals, television productions, music, live entertainment, broadcasting, theatre etc.

•    Don’t forget or hesitate to read the terms and conditions of your insurance policy before signingthe deal. The clauses mentioned in the insurance should satisfy you. If they don’t, talk with the insurance company and clear things out.

•    Try to go for a comprehensive insurance portfolio if you organize concerts regularly. However, if this is one-of-the-kind concerts, you can sign per-event insurance. In the comprehensiveinsurance portfolio, you get to combine liability, broad property, umbrella coverage and commercial auto. For one-time event insurances, you can get compensation to be paid to a third party for accidental bodily damage or injury.

•    Make sure that the insurance policy protects you in all forms of eventualities during the event. It should protect you against abuses, assaults and misconducts upto 5% of your chosen coverage. The insurance should be specifically designed to help you eliminate any financial burden rising because of escalating medical bills and civil litigation.

Get Performance Insurance - Be Prepared For the Worst

For a music lover, a concert or musical performance simply means enjoyment and relaxation. There is no way the person understandshow the concert was organized, what went backstage to put the act together and how many sleepless nights the organizers must have spent. The reality of organizing events is actually quite grim. But it’s a job and for many it’s the only thing they would do. One of the ways an organizer can reduce the strains associated with organizing an event is getting insurance.Performance insurance keeps you protected from the worst of things. It helps you recover some of the cost in case of an eventuality.

What Gets Protected Under Performance Insurance?

There are several things that are taken care of under this kind of insurance. From event organizers to Music Studios in New York and musicians, everyone can seek protection under this.

•    Event Cancellation– Event cancellation is one of the most unfortunate things to happen to any organizer.If the event gets cancelled at the last moment, after you have paid to the musicians, artistes etc. and all tickets have been sold; you can be in a deep soup. In such a situation, the artistes might not want to return the money and the audience will ask for a refund. If you have insurance cover, you can save the situation to a certain extent.
•    Unforeseen Mishap –Things can go wrong even after the performance has started. The rain gods may unleash their vengeance just when the event is in full-swing. It can cause the audience to go berserk and run out in all directions. Sometimes even the best organizers cannot control the frenzied crowd. In such circumstances, stampedes are likely and oftenresult in injuries. If that’s to happen, you will find yourself deep in trouble and paying compensation to more people than you care.
•    Damage to Instruments – Artistes and musicians are very finicky about their instruments. After all these are their prized possessions. Most often, professional musicians like to sign a deal before an event that you would be responsible for any loss or damage to their instruments. Even when you sign such a contract, you have to be prepared for the worst. What if an instrument gets damaged because of your negligence? What happens when the cost of repairing the instrument runs up to thousands of dollars? Insurance which covers damage to musical instruments can save you in such situations.
•    Legal Hassles – No one likes to be dragged to the court. When you organize an event or even when you are producing a musical program from inside the studio, you don’t want anyone to take you to the courts. Unfortunately it is pretty common in the music and performance industry. Hence it is essential to be prepared and get yourself insured. If anyone (artistes, musicians or audience) is to sue you, the insurance cover should be able to help you come out of the situation unharmed.

Find the Best Audio Equipment Insurance for You

When you think of insurance, it’s mostly to protect the house, car or your health. Most people easily ignore insuring some of the prized processions simply because they do not think it necessary. The realization only comes when it’s too late and when disaster strikes. Surely that’s not the right way to go about protecting your things. If you are a musician, your instrument would naturally be very important to you. If your musical instrument’s current value is about $5000, you should seriously think about audio equipment instrument. Most of the insurance companies offering musical-instrument policies offer similar services but with slight variations. Thus it is important that you know what to expect from an insurance company. In this write-up, we will highlight a few important things you need to keep in mind.

Know Where To Start

Your first prerogative should be to research and find out about the various companies offering such insurances. For example, if you are looking for viola insurance, you should find a company who offers a suitable insurance for your precious stringed instrument. You can search online and find the best companies that meet your requirements.
 

Understand Premiums
   
Once you are satisfied with the insurance company, next you have to understand the premium policies. Find information on minimum premiums and amount of deductibles offered by different companies. Remember that you might not find one-insurance-that-fits-all needs. Some may offer you premiums as low as $250 with no deductibles while some have other company may offer a different premium rate. Premiums are directly related to high-risk items. Usually bows which have fragile heads are considered high-risk items.

Find What Gets Covered
   
Insurance coverage for audio equipment varies from other types of insurances. In this case, coverage usually includes various circumstances which can be encountered by musicians. Since musicians are more likely to travel, the coverage is termed ‘worldwide’. You should also find out whether your music-related gear gets covered in the insurance or not.Some companies are willing to insure electrical and recording accessories, amplifiers and equipment but not laptops and iPods. Apart from insurance coverage for your travels, you should also get covered for typical threats such as flood, fire, theft and damage.

Assessing The Value of Your Instrument
   
The condition of your musical instrument will ultimately be the deciding factor on the insurance. Your instrument is likely to be devalued even if there is a slight crack at the back of the instrument. For example, a bow which has a broken head can devalue your instrument by 70 to 80 per cent.

Conditions Necessary for Filing a Claim
   
If your search for the insurance company is satisfactory, do not rest unless you are sure of a few other things. It is important for you to find out how do you the insurance in the event of loss, theft or damage. Understand the formalities well before you get the insurance cover so that later you do not regret your decision. Talk openly with the insurance representative so that you can get a quick settlement when required.

With Concert Insurance in Hand You Can Concentrate On Your Key Capabilities

For all professionals associated with the music and entertainment sector, each new morning fetches a set of fresh test and trails that were never heard before.  A single illustration of laxity or neglectfulness or a slightest negligence can lead to a series of unfortunate incidents which gradually culminates into a career spoiler. This is the reason growing number of professionals associated with this field have started opting for Concert Insurance  and related plans; and trust me they play a crucial role in lessening down the pressure of unsure future and ultimately helps in beating up the heat of growing competition!!!

Organizing a musical night or a live show at a huge scale is not every one’s job; the one who has tried and tested his/her hands in this field is well aware that there are number of factors that are to be taken care while organizing a grand event. Even when concerts are been organized at low level in presence of family and close friends lots one has to take care of lots of factors. Any type of mismanagement or lapse of insight at any level can spoil the entire function and as a result your career.

Here Concert Insurance gives you a peace of mind, by sorting out the issues so that you can concentrate more upon the productivity; i.e. at any point of adverse situations the insurance coverage is there to help you out in various ways. In case the event is been cancelled, you have to refund ticket amount to the audiences, besides settle payment for decorators caterers as well as performers. Imagine the financial loss you have to undergo. If the concert is been covered under the right nature of plan, organizers have nothing to worry about. Even if either of the invitee suffers from grave injuries due accident at the venue of concert, these insurance plans make sure to cover all the medical expenses that otherwise you as a concert organizer had to pay.

Imagine a situation while orchestra party is entertaining the audiences through their popular number, and the stage catches fire due to electric short circuit; and some of the instruments are damaged due to fire. We all are well aware that these instruments are quite expensive and a source of income for these performers. There are series of plans with dedicated and professional musical insurance firms to deal such issues.

As a concert organizer you have hired some of the exclusive musical equipments and accessories from a renowned Music Studio for your show. Imagine while being transported to the venue, some of the accessories and sound mixing equipments get misplaced. For recording studio such a situation is quite depressing. Establishing a fully equipped Music Studio is not a day’s job, and any type of loss makes the owner anxious and depressed.  Here, Music Studio Insurance helps the owner to cover the losses that occur due to such happenings. Even, damage to instruments take place during practice sessions of performers; and ere this type of plans helps in covering all the mishaps that come into the path of success.

Ask your insurance vendor to include compensation claim so that you can easily deal with legal issues.

Points To Ponder While Purchasing Music Equipment Insurance

Importance of Music Equipments in a life of a musician can only be understood by professional associated with music and entertainment industry; as for musicians they are not just a set of string, wood and metal.

For musicians their equipments are an integral part of their life and body, and any kind of harm or damage to these instruments breaks them from inside. Though, one cannot weigh the emotional quotient or feelings of attachment with these equipments and instruments with the funds invested in it; but the truth is that these gadgets do not come cheap. And when you are an owner of the instrument that has historical value, the cash value of these instruments increases in the market substantially as well.

What’s more, as a professional musician your instruments are the source of your livelihood; and in case something happens to your musical instruments you are deprived of regular income. For all these reasons mentioned, having a well designed Music Equipment Insurance as per requirement makes absolute sense. If you are concerned about safety and security of your premises car and jewelry  than why not to show adequate amount of concern for your musical instruments which are the source of recognition in the society.

Shop Around

Internet gives you an ease for searching dedicated musical insurance provider with less hassle and with less of time spent. Having the quotes from insurers with a click of button can make things easy for you as well as for the insurers. Most of the professional insurance vendors cater the needs of their clients through their websites 24x7; thus you have an opportunity to make a proper survey at your convenience. These dedicated musical insurers have more options than you can dream of; and that is quite advantageous for all associates of entertainment fraternity.

How To Properly Evaluate Your Instrument Coverage Plan

 When you are in the market searching for a vendor who can design a suitable Instrument Coverage plan, make sure to have a thorough look to premiums and coverage.  First and foremost thing that should be taken in account is that whether the premium rates are within your resources. With passing time, if premium rates for a particular plan have a steep rise, evaluate that whether you are able to cope with it or not; and take necessary actions accordingly.

When the insurer is modifying a particular plan selected by you, make sure that all the necessary bases as per your presence in music fraternity are been covered appropriately. When it comes to individual instruments, accidents, natural disasters besides theft, replacement and validity are the few factors that are quite important. For symphonies, instruments as well as orchestra members coverage too should be considered.  If you are having Music/recording studio don’t forget to include coverage of your property and employees in your pay role. Double check with the insurer about including all the factors that are deemed necessary are there in the plan and with the absence of which any unsolicited incidence can ruin your career.

Be assured Dedicated and Professional insurance vendors will always help you in choosing a right nature of insurance plan.