Commercial studio owners -- tell me about insurance

[Jackie Treehorn]

I currently have a policy with Clarion to cover my (fairly modest) recording gear. However, I'm in the process of acquiring commercial space, and at some point this year I will move the gear out of my house and into the new location.

As I am new to being a commercial property owner, I have a few questions:

Does your policy on a commercial building include its contents (gear) on some kind of rider? Or do you have separate policies (like what I have now... one for the house, one for the gear)?

Any advice or anecdotes appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Jackie Treehorn]

One other question:

Does anyone see a need to insure software? Say Melodyne, for example. Once you've paid for the license and you have an ilok code... if the computer were stolen or destroyed or whatever, couldn't you just download the software again, pay the fee to put the license on a new ilok, and you're back in business?

[Rick Sutton]

I have two separate policies. One for the building and "normal" contents plus liability and the other a scheduled policy for all the gear. Policies are from 2 different companies. I just kind of include the software into the gear policy.

[Jackie Treehorn]

Thanks, Rick.

[narcoman]

Read the small print on most policies - less than 50% payout on software, and some only cover a %age of what you have. So if you have 100 plugins they'll cover 40 of them or similar. Might be diff in the USA.

[Greg Curtis]

Get in touch with Joe Montarello. He specializes in Studio Insurance. Great guy, incredibly knowledgeable I have 3 policies with him, covering building, liability, and equipment.

Joe Montarello
The Recording Studio Insurance Program
Capital Bauer Agency
500 New Karner Road
PO Box 15094
Albany, NY 12212-5095

888-869-3535 (Ext. 807)
518-533-6869 (Fax)
jmontarello@capitalbauer.com
www.capitalbauer.com/recording.htm

Greg

.

[recordinghopkins]

Originally Posted by Greg Curtis

Get in touch with Joe Montarello. He specializes in Studio Insurance. Great guy, incredibly knowledgeable I have 3 policies with him, covering building, liability, and equipment.

Joe Montarello
The Recording Studio Insurance Program
Capital Bauer Agency
500 New Karner Road
PO Box 15094
Albany, NY 12212-5095

888-869-3535 (Ext. 807)
518-533-6869 (Fax)
jmontarello@capitalbauer.com
www.capitalbauer.com/recording.htm

Greg

.

I contacted Joe for my own needs, and looking for only 35k of coverage he told me that he really didn't fool with accounts that small (paraphrased). My guess is that unless you have 100k or more of coverage it's not worth his time.
I went with Music Pro insurance, and I am covered for about 1% of my investment, yearly.

Greg

[Greg Curtis]

Originally Posted by recordinghopkins

I contacted Joe for my own needs, and looking for only 35k of coverage he told me that he really didn't fool with accounts that small (paraphrased). My guess is that unless you have 100k or more of coverage it's not worth his time.
I went with Music Pro insurance, and I am covered for about 1% of my investment, yearly.

Greg

Ah, OK. I'm glad you found someone!

[recordinghopkins]

Thanks Greg!

[nickmoon]

I'm super happy with The Hartford business insurance team. Super pro. Covers building, all the contents and liability (someone slips and falls; my neck and my back!) Had an old Power Book G4 take a dive. Called them up, had a check in 48 hours, bought two iPads for the shop.
I think I'm covered for around 200K in gear and liability, not sure..

Highly recommended.

[The Byre]

Originally Posted by Jackie Treehorn

Commercial studio owners -- tell me about insurance

Any advice or anecdotes appreciated.

Simples -

Insurance is a bit like marriage - You sign up for something you don't really understand, but thought you did, the payout is nothing like you expected and it's a little every month.

Any further questions?

[Eganmedia]

Here's another vote for Joe Montarello. Been with him for 10+years. Its nice to talk to a guy who undertsands what we do and what we worry about.

[NorseHorse]

I insure my equipment through http://www.hoffberger.com/.

I do remote recording, and they UNDERSTOOD what I needed. Shoot Peter Hoffberger an email and see what he can do.

Good luck.

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

You also need liability if you do remotes. Insurance was a constant fight, until I found the right agent in my area. Then it was a breeze. The real test of how good your insurance is comes when you have a claim. I never did.

[4 the Max]

I did a lot of research. I do concert video and photography besides audio both live and in my studio. I researched Clarion, MusicPro, and Joe/Capital Bauer who would only cover my audio work and in studio. Joe was wonderful to talk to but he couldn't cover my multi activities - it didn't fit into what their companies deal with. Other companies underwritten from my membership in professional photography groups (PPA) only covered photographic work, especially portraits.

I talked to the agent of my homeowner's policy who obtained a commercial insurance policy through their business division. What I like about it is that it covers my gear up to 100K (unless I want to pay for more coverage), liability from slip/fall, and my building (my studio is a separate building on my residential property) and theft on location AND in my studio and even internationally. The insurance travels with me wherever I am doing business, whatever kind of business that I'm doing whether video, photo, or audio, even if it's pro bono press video/photography that I do occasionally. It costs me $80/month.