The £862m price of the nation’s downloaded music

The nation’s music lovers are at risk of having to fork out a combined £862m – or £257 each – to replace their downloaded music, according to new research by Privilege Home Insurance.

And with the value of downloaded collections increasing by £25 a year on average, the research shows that just 17 per cent of music-lovers actually back up their downloaded collections and a quarter (24 per cent) have previously had their entire downloaded music collection destroyed , estimating it took three weeks to replace their favourite tunes.

With over half of the population (57 per cent) admitting they update their collections to reflect new music formats, experts predict more and more music lovers will take to downloading music in the coming years and downloads from sites such as iTunes will increase by 315 per cent in Europe by 2010.

The research also shows that it’s not just the iPod-generation that is at risk. While 18-24 year olds have downloaded collections averaging £310 each, those aged 30-50 have collections averaging £159 and even the over 55s have almost £100 worth of downloaded music on average.

But with the research indicating that just three per cent of the population have insurance cover for electronic copies of music on their home insurance policy, Privilege is responding to the phenomenal growth in downloaded music and has announced that from 19th November 2006, it will automatically give all new and existing home insurance customers up to £1,000 worth of cover for their downloaded music if stolen or damaged by an insured cause (for example, in a fire or flood).

Kate Syred, Commercial Director at Privilege, said: “Our research has highlighted the risk music-lovers are taking by not insuring their favourite downloaded music collections. Many consumers do not realise quite how much it would cost – or how long it would take – to replace their music downloads.

“In order to ensure our music loving customers – existing and new – can have peace of mind, we’ve announced that downloaded music will now be protected on their home insurance policies at no extra cost. But customers are advised to keep hard copies of receipts in case they need to claim, as electronic proof of purchase may be lost along with the music itself.”