renter's insurance for studio gear?

[pohaku]

Umm... if you have a musical agent, then you're fucked before you even begin. There's their proof. Good luck convincing a judge or jury that you're a professional musician but none of the audio gear you own has anything to do with that fact. Remember, the burden of proof is going to fall on you. The insurance company is simply going to deny your claim then you'll have to hire a lawyer to prove them wrong in doing so.

Lastly, I wouldn't be taking insurance coverage advice from a musical agent if it contradicts what my insurance company is telling me. Your agent isn't going to be writing you the check when the smoke clears.

I think he's talking about an insurance agent, not a music agent.

 

[Freudian Slip]

Now I wonder, is this still true if you were to merely store the equipment at the apartment/house you are renting and record on location?

Yes. There is more risk taking you stuff out and about than having it sit in your bedroom. That is if I understand you correctly.
Also the average person would not have the gear you may have. This is going to bring up questions....

F.S.

 

[Freudian Slip]

My wife does all our insurance, but I think it went something like this -

We had homeowners, and I had a small studio that was 100% a personal studio. Started getting more gear, so we decided to start doing some "side" work. I thought I better be safe and get a business license, and we called the insurance company and added a home office/home business rider. It was very cheap. Like, less than $40 a year for the additional coverage. Now, the rider itself didn't cover much, but our regular homeowners covered the rest, and we were a bit over insured to start with. Well, fast forward a year, and we got renewal papers, and a copy of the policy. For some strange reason, I decided to read through it. When I got to the rider, it sounded to me like we weren't really insured like she said we were. So, I had the wife call, and the insurance lady said we were covered, but she'd double check just to make sure. Well, she calls back and says she made a HUGE mistake. Not only were we not covered, but they couldn't even offer any insurance for the studio gear. So, we had to shop around for business insurance. It ended up being about $1300 a year - and that doesn't count homeowners.

Yep. Those home office endorsements are for incidental things you may bring home from work to work on and things like that. If you have people coming into your home and you are charging them for it you need a business policy. The liability is where the money comes in.

I have seen alot of agents sell that endorsement for all kinds of things that it won't cover. One lady was running a nail salon out of her house

Inland marine (a commercial coverage) will cover gear/tools/etc. out and about or at your home, but that is all it does. It provides no liability for if someone comes to your house for business and gets hurt or sues you because of the final product.

F.S.

 

[mikeh]

Inland marine (a commercial coverage) will cover gear/tools/etc. out and about or at your home, but that is all it does. It provides no liability for if someone comes to your house for business and gets hurt or sues you because of the final product.

F.S.

This is a very important point!!!! If someone has a basement studio and a "client" falls down the stairs and is injured - the liability coverage on a home owner policy would not cover this (since it is business use in the home) - so in addition to an Inland Marine Policy to cover the property (gear) a person with a home or other assets that they would not want to risk in a law suit, should also consider business liability coverage.

I personally don't carry it (it's much more expensive than property insurance)and I'm always thinking about it when people are hauling gear down the stairs I figure if anyone falls down the stairs, I'll shoot them and then claim they wre trying to steal my gear

 

[Freudian Slip]

This is a very important point!!!! If someone has a basement studio and a "client" falls down the stairs and is injured - the liability coverage on a home owner policy would not cover this (since it is business use in the home) - so in addition to an Inland Marine Policy to cover the property (gear) a person with a home or other assets that they would not want to risk in a law suit, should also consider business liability coverage.

I personally don't carry it (it's much more expensive than property insurance)and I'm always thinking about it when people are hauling gear down the stairs I figure if anyone falls down the stairs, I'll shoot them and then claim they wre trying to steal my gear

Well if your home owners insurance finds out you are running a business in your home with no commercial liability coverage (for the business) they will usually cancel you. You're agent might let it slide or turn a blind eye, but the insurance company feels differently and that agent is not doing you any favors not telling you the truth of the matter. If you're really going to have traffic it's best to buy a package policy that covers your gear & liability.
If your just going to have friends record once in a while and it's a hobbie just add your equipment to your HO policy. The important thing is to know where you stand.



F.S.

 

[aitikin]

Umm... if you have a musical agent, then you're fucked before you even begin. There's their proof.

I was meaning my insurance agent. I'm a college student with no talent outside of recording (and even that's questionable ) so I don't need a music agent.

 

[JTC111]

I was meaning my insurance agent. I'm a college student with no talent outside of recording (and even that's questionable ) so I don't need a music agent.

As Emo Philips says, "Ambiguity... the Devil's volleyball."