Does your music store have insurance?
If not, you’re leaving it vulnerable to unexpected obstacles. Small business insurance protects retail stores — including music shops — from a variety of risks, including accidents, natural disasters, theft, and legal claims.
It’s easy to brush off these possibilities to avoid the costs associated with insurance coverage, but unexpected damages or lawsuits that occur for uninsured businesses can force them to close their doors. To prevent this, take the time to determine what types of music store insurance you need and choose the level of coverage you can afford. By preparing for these contingencies early, your business can endure the hardships it faces.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the reasons you need music store insurance, nine insurance policies your music store may need, and the top providers to consider.
Let’s dive in.
Small business insurance protects your music store from financial loss. You pay a monthly premium for a specific type of coverage or a bundle of coverages. If a covered event occurs, you file a claim, and the insurance company pays you to cover the damages.
Depending on the type of coverage you have, a covered event might include an injury that happens in your music store, accidental damage to an instrument or to your building, or stolen property. If your store faces a lawsuit, insurance may pay your legal fees, depending on the situation.
Music store insurance offers peace of mind. If a natural disaster occurs and you can’t afford repairs, your insurance helps you repair your store — so you don’t have to go out of business. Knowing you have help if a covered event occurs lets you focus on running your business instead of worrying about potential risks.
Here are a few examples of insurance policies your music business may need. Some of these policies overlap in coverage, so you may not need all of them. But by choosing the ones that apply to your business, you can protect your investment.
This type of coverage protects your business from claims of injury or property damage to others that occur on your premises. If a customer trips and falls in your music store, for example, this insurance covers necessary legal fees and/or medical expenses.
Commercial property insurance protects your music store’s physical location and inventory. These assets are covered in the event of damage from incidents like fire, theft, or vandalism. This type of insurance helps guarantee you still have inventory to sell, even in the face of unexpected loss or damage.
Related Read: Where Do Music Stores Get Their Inventory? + 5 Tips for Managing Yours
A business owner’s policy (BOP) is a bundle that combines general liability and commercial property insurance. It’s a simpler and more cost-effective way to cover the essential insurance needs of your music store.
This type of coverage offers financial support if your business is forced to close temporarily due to a covered event like a fire or natural disaster. If you can’t open and make money while repairing your store — but still have bills to pay — it could lead to permanent closure. Business interruption insurance protects against this possibility.
A musical instrument policy specifically covers the instruments in your store. If you’re holding musical instruments owned by others for repairs or consignment, this policy covers these too. Instruments are protected against damage, theft, or loss, even if they’re being transported. This policy may not be needed if you already have commercial property insurance.
Related Read: How To Become a Musical Instrument Repair Technician
Cyber insurance protects against financial loss due to a data breach and/or cyberattack — both of which are becoming increasingly more common. This financial support can help with alerting customers to the situation, costs for data recovery, and paying legal fees if a lawsuit is filed.
If your company is storing customer credit card data or other sensitive information, this type of insurance is recommended.
Related Read: 5 Ways the Music Retail Sector Is Evolving
Don’t let the name fool you — this type of insurance isn’t just for boats. Inland marine insurance covers equipment you own when it’s being transported or isn’t at your music store, such as during deliveries, repairs, or rental periods. This way, even inventory that’s not at your store is protected. If you have a policy on musical instruments that includes coverage for transported or off-site equipment, you don’t need this additional policy.
Related Read: 7 Benefits of Omnichannel Retailing for Music Stores
Commercial auto insurance covers vehicles your business uses. If you use a vehicle for deliveries, traveling to instrument repairs or music lessons, or transporting instruments between store locations, this policy protects you financially in the event of an accident.
A worker’s compensation policy financially supports an employee who’s injured on the job at your music store and is unable to work for a period of time. Many states require businesses to have a worker’s compensation policy by law.
Each music store is different — and so is each insurance company. Your challenge is to find an insurance provider that covers what your business needs insured at a price you can afford.
Here’s a brief overview of several insurance providers. For pricing, contact each one directly for a custom quote.
AMIIS offers music store insurance policies that cover instruments and equipment you own at your physical location, instruments owned by others in your care, and items being shipped. While AMIIS doesn’t offer all of the policies listed above, their musical instrument policy is a good fit for some music stores — especially those who frequently ship instruments.
Liberty Mutual is a large insurance company that offers many different types of policies that apply to small businesses. These include general liability, commercial property, BOP, commercial auto, worker’s compensation, and other policies that help protect your music store.
Nationwide is another large-scale insurance company that offers the full range of policies a small business needs, including general liability, commercial property, BOP, cyber, inland marine, and others. Their broad coverage options make it easy for you to bundle various protections under one provider.
Now you have a better idea of the types of insurance policies that apply to small businesses — including music shops — and which providers are out there. So, it’s time to find the provider and policies that work for your business.
Rather than just picking one and signing up right away, take the time to compare multiple options. If necessary, meet with agents from different companies. These agents know exactly what each policy covers and can explain how much it’ll cost you.
Determine which policies cover what your business needs and which provider has the best price point. With these factors in mind, you have the tools to choose and purchase one or multiple policies, so your music store is protected against the unexpected challenges it may face.
To insure your business against injuries, property damage, and theft, you need an insurance policy. To manage your business’ inventory, e-commerce, and marketing, you need a point of sale (POS) system.
Music Shop 360 is a cloud-based, all-in-one POS solution designed specifically for the music industry. It offers a full suite of both general and music-specific features, including tools for managing repairs, renting out instruments, and teaching music lessons. With a robust POS system, you can automate tasks you used to do by hand, saving you time and money.
To see what Music Shop 360 can do for your business, schedule a demo today!