MP3 downloads rarely covered by home insurance

by David Masters

Story link: MP3 downloads rarely covered by home insurance

As the money spent by British music lovers on MP3 downloads tops the £1 billion mark, it has emerged that most home insurance policies do not provide cover for music collections purchased online.

Only one in twenty (5%) of people who download music from sites such as Amazon and iTunes know for certain that their digital music is covered by their home insurance policy.

Nearly a quarter (23%) expect they wouldn’t be covered if their digital music collection was lost or stolen.

Over half (55%) haven’t a clue whether their MP3 downloads are covered or not.

In reality, only a quarter (24%) of home insurance providers offer cover for music purchased online, with many of these providing less than £2,000 of cover.

“Downloading music has taken off in recent years, but many home insurance policies are lagging behind in terms of covering people for their purchases,” said Ben Tyte, of Sainsbury’s Finance, who conducted the research.

“It’s a good idea to back-up your collection onto another computer as a precautionary measure.”