Essential insurance types for freelance sound engineers

Listen up, sound engineers! We know it can be confusing shopping around for sound engineer insurance. There are so many different types of business insurance, and many insurers seem geared around bigger businesses. But Kingsbridge is marching to a different beat – with our business insurance orchestrated specifically to the needs of freelancers like you.
 

Do freelancer sound engineers need business insurance? 

As a freelancer you are responsible for your business. That means if anything goes wrong, you are financially responsible. While many freelancers aim to have a surplus for emergencies or quiet periods, this is unlikely to cover the costs if one of your clients tries to sue you or a member of the public is harmed in the course of your work.  

This is where insurance steps in. It can provide you with a financial safety net to catch you should things go wrong. Sort of like having a backup on hand in case anything happens to a master sound file. 

We’ve put together this guide to help freelance sound engineers understand what business insurance they need, and how to get it sorted. So, without skipping a beat, let’s press play on our rundown of essential business insurance for freelance sound engineers. 

Professional Indemnity insurance for freelance sound engineers  

Professional Indemnity insurance is all about guaranteeing the quality of your work, protecting you and the client from any accusations of making mistakes or errors. For example, if you mixed an instrumental track for a television advert, and another artist heard it and claimed it was too like their work, they might try to claim against you for breach of copyright. There have been numerous high-profile cases of producers and artists being accused of stealing – consciously or unconsciously – musical motifs and arrangements from other pieces.  

Professional Indemnity insurance would protect you if you were accused of a similar copyright breach in the course of your freelance work, along with many other potential slip-ups including negligence, giving bad advice, defamation and breaches of confidentiality. It would cover the cost of putting things right plus any compensation or fees due.

Public liability insurance for freelance sound engineers 

Public Liability is an important insurance to have if you work out and about as a sound engineer. If you’re working in studios, recording audio on sets or outside broadcasts, or mixing in theatres and at gigs, you need to cover yourself for any accidents that might happen.  

Public Liability insurance is there to protect you and the people around you against the risks of harm. That might be accidents that injure people or cause damage to property. For example, if you’re recording and mixing in a client’s studio, and you accidentally knock a cup of coffee all over an expensive audio deck, Public Liability insurance would step in to pay for the cost of a replacement, and other costs the client might incur such as the lost studio time.  

Or, if you’re recording sound for a television programme shooting on location in a busy town centre, and another member of the crew trips over your wires and requires medical treatment for a broken arm, Public Liability insurance would cover any claims they made against you for their costs and compensation, including the time they need off work to recover. 

A lot of contracts and venues will insist that you have Public Liability insurance before you work there, as it’s such an important cover for protecting the people around you as you work. It also gives you peace of mind that you won’t have to deal with hefty compensation claims – the costs of which can stretch into hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

Business Equipment cover for freelance sound engineers 

Freelance sound engineers and designers are likely to build up quite a bit of kit over the years as they work professionally. While you might start off with just a laptop and a couple of mics, you will eventually build up an arsenal of expensive audio equipment like cable testers, decibel meters, headphones, monitors, lights, tools, consoles, tablets and potentially even your own home recording studio.  

Some home insurance policies won’t cover business equipment, especially not if you take it out and about with you. Make sure you check the small print if you’re relying on this – and consider taking out specialist business equipment insurance that protects the tools you need to do your job. 

Imagine you’re working on an amazing gig, recording a live musical performance at a cathedral. To capture the sound in the space, you’ve set up several expensive microphones. At the end of the event, you’re distracted having a quick chat with the client about how it went, while an opportunist thief walks off with two of the mics. You’re devastated thinking about the cost of replacing them. However, Business Equipment insurance would often cover the cost of replacements and get the cash to you within 24 hours so that you’re ready for your next job. 

Cyber insurance for freelance sound engineers 

If you are using technology, then you need to make sure you are protecting yourself from the risks of hackers and scammers. There are ever more sophisticated scams at play, which can mean loss of access to your equipment or systems, and corruption or theft of data. 

Holding Cyber Liability insurance will provide you with the help needed to get back up and running again quickly if anything goes wrong. With access to dedicated 24-hour help and cyber incident reporting service, the insurance also protects your business against the financial and operational impacts of an attack, including data recovery, business interruption due to cyber-attack and regulatory defence and penalties.  

Why choose Kingsbridge for your freelance business? 

Here at Kingsbridge, we have been offering specialist insurance for freelance sound engineers for many years. These years of experience have helped us to create a tailored policy package for freelance professionals to provide the most comprehensive cover sound engineers could ever need.  

We also offer flexible payment options and the ability to adjust your coverage as your business grows. Plus, if you do find the same coverage elsewhere for less, we offer a Price Promise to beat any like for like quote. 

If we’ve helped you understand the type of cover you might need as an freelance sound engineer please contact us for a quote either online or by ringing our team on 01242 808740.