Most writing about starting a label is about A&R and marketing. This is about the part that has to exist before any of that can happen, and which nobody finds interesting until something is blocked by it.

Three things, in descending order of how unavoidable they are.

1. An entity, with its own PAN

Unavoidable. Everything downstream asks for it.

The label needs to be a legal person distinct from you, with its own name, its own PAN, and a constitution document that proves it exists. For a partnership that is the deed; for other forms it is the incorporation paperwork.

That entity PAN is not the same as your personal PAN, and the distinction matters because every body you deal with wants the entity’s: IMI asks for it on the registrant application, IPRS asks for it, distributors ask for it, and copyright filings identify the applicant by it.

Which form of entity to choose is the one genuine decision in this whole list.

2. GST registration, required, but not automatically

Worth being precise, because most summaries get this wrong in one direction or the other.

GST registration is not something every new label must have on day one. Under section 22 of the CGST Act, registration becomes mandatory once aggregate turnover in a financial year crosses the threshold, twenty lakh rupees for a supplier of services, lower in certain states. Section 24 then lists categories required to register regardless of turnover.

So the honest answer is: it depends on your turnover and on whether you fall into a compulsory category. Check your own position against section 22 and section 24, or with an accountant. We are not going to restate tax law that is published authoritatively and changes.

What we can say from practice is that once you have it, it does work beyond tax. The GST registration certificate is accepted as address proof for the industry memberships, and the IPRS application has a field for it. It quietly becomes the document you reach for.

3. Udyam, optional, free, five minutes

Udyam is the government’s registration of micro, small and medium enterprises. It records the enterprise, its major activity, services, for a label, and its classification.

It is not required to release music, get ISRCs, join IPRS or file copyright. The Udyam portal states plainly that registration is “Zero cost, No Fee” and paperless, worth knowing, because several third-party sites charge for it. It is quick, and it is the kind of thing that is easier to hold than to arrange the week you discover you need it.

What is downstream, not foundational

These come after, and each depends on the ones above:

  • ISRC registrant code, needs the entity, its PAN, address proof and your constitution document. And released repertoire with your own artwork.
  • IPRS membership, which needs entity details, PAN, bank account, and released works to notify.
  • A distributor, which needs the entity and a bank account.
  • Copyright filings, which need the entity as applicant.

Which raises the question of what order to do it all in, because several of them block each other.

This is not tax or legal advice. It is what we found we needed. Thresholds and requirements change, check the official sources linked above.