If you are good at creative skills like Dance and Music, then it makes sense to pursue this as a full-time business opportunity. The chances of success in this industry is directly related to your own skills and talents. And the best part is, work will never feel like liability!
If you are planning on launching your own classes, there is a ton of information that you need on your plate before you begin, including business plan, taxation details, marketing ideas and expectations for the future.
So here’s how to start a Music and Dance Class Business in India:
Business Registration
As it is the case with any business, you should always register the business and follow all taxation norms. But when you are starting the dance and music classes from home, you can do away with this step for the initial few months if you cannot handle the registration charges right now.
Gradually as you grow, you can go ahead with registering a proprietorship or a partnership firm. On the other hand, if you plan to register a Dance or Music Academy, the best legal structure is to go ahead is to register a Private Limited Company with a partner. If you will be operating the business alone, you can also register a One Person Company.
Here are the documents that you would need in the process:
- Memorandum of Association
- Articles of Association
- A duly stamped Declaration of compliance
- Address proof of the registered office of the company
- Particulars of the designated Directors, Manager or Secretary of the company
- Authority executed on a non-judicial stamp paper, in favour of one of the subscribers to the Memorandum of Association or any other person authorizing him to file the documents and papers for registration and to make necessary corrections, if any
- The ROCs letter (in original) indicating the availability of the name of the company.
In addition to this, if you are launching a dedicated Music or Dance Academy, you need to avail a license from the Phonographic Performance Limited company to legally be allowed to play recorded music in public.
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Music and Dance Classes Business Startup Cost
The initial startup cost required to start the business depends on the scale on which you are beginning the operations. If you are starting off from home, all expenses can be managed within INR 10,000, including the marketing costs, since most of the initial business would be driven from your private network. This is assuming that you already have the music instruments in place.
If you are aiming to launch a Music or Dance academy, startup costs can go upto INR 5 Lakhs, including the price of the music instruments, renting out an office space, hiring other talented dancers/musicians, marketing costs, and so on.
Also Read : 15 Profitable Business Ideas under 10 Lakhs
Music and Dance Classes Business Plan 
The next step is to come up with a viable Business Plan that makes operations profitable and projects the right kind of growth for the future. The right Business Plan will validate your whole business idea and define all the day to day activities.
The main components of a business plan are:
- Objective and Strategy: What is the core objective in the market that your business is trying to achieve? And what is the core strategy through which you plan to do so? For example, the aim of one Dance Academy might be to introduce dancing in early age group students right from the kindergarden, while the aim of another Music Academy might be to focus on adults with mellifluous voices to give the city its first professional singer.
- Investment: What is the projected investment required? What investment do you already have? What part of it do you plan to source from an investor?
- Services: What are the types of Dances, Music or Instruments that your talent academy will be providing to its students? Do you plan to include any other services in the future?
- Market Analysis: What is the current status of the market? Are there any local researches available that ascertain the number of the people in the city who are interested to join such talent classes? Learn everything about the market to understand what you are getting into.
- Competitor Analysis: How are other players in the market doing? What are the timings in which they operate? What type of support latent do they hire? Learn everything about what’s working and what’s not to increase your chances of success.
- Market Segmentation: Try to segment your customers on the basis of their background profiles, especially the age groups that they come from. This segmentation can then be effectively utilized while setting up marketing strategies.
- Technology: While technology can be something as simple as choosing the right kind of speakers and a subscription to iTunes, it is important to define and keep a track of what you are doing in this domain.
- Future Forecasts: What are the prospects of the market in the future? Is there any research or survey to ascertain this? If not, do you plan to conduct a survey yourself?
- SWOT Analysis: Carry out an extensive SWOT analysis of your prospective company. What are its Strengths and Weaknesses? What are the Opportunities in the market and Threats due to which the revenue might take a hit?
- Operational Procedures: This section of the Business Plan will lay emphasis on the day to day operations of the academy, including the hiring practice, reporting time, training procedure followed, etc.
- Location: Where will your business be located in the city? And what made you choose this location in the first place? This decision is crucial and a great opportunity to increase the footfall in the academy if it is located at an accessible junction.
Also Read : Brilliant Business Ideas To Kickstart Within Of Rs. 50000 To 1 Lakh
Advertising and Marketing Strategies
Advertising and Marketing is the lifeblood of the business since it exposes your offerings to a large number of people, thus increasing the customer-base and, in-turn, the revenue.
Your marketing strategy can be simple enough to begin with – making sure that every customer is happy and 100% satisfied with your deliverables. Not only will a happy customer come back to the classes, he/she will spread awareness about your talents through word-of-mouth marketing. This is often rooted as the best way to market your business.
Once you are confident enough that all your current customers are happy and you have everything set up to handle scaling, it’s time to boost your marketing through other channels. Print media channels like yellow pages, local newspapers and magazines, pamphlets and flyers can be explored here. You can then increase investments in the channels that are working for you and do away with those who are not.
It doesn’t end here. Social media marketing through Facebook and Instagram can also be explored. These are new avenues of Digital Marketing and, if done right, can very well transform into primary channels of business. A Facebook or Instagram page can be set up and local advertisements can be run to reach out a greater audience. A websi
te would also help to convert visitors in such a scenario.
Also Read : Things to Know Before You Start a Garment Business
Details About Taxation
No business set up is complete without knowing about and setting up a procedure to handle the taxes involved.
Here are the details of the Tax norms that are to be followed for a company registered in the Education and Training sector:
- Transactions in the training industry will attract a Service Tax of 15%
- A GST of 18% is applicable on all transactions. But this will include a relaxation in the form of the availability of Input Tax Credit on the sourced goods or services, if any.
The Input Tax Credit for the outsourced goods or services deployed by the Training Institute can be availed according to the following norms:
- Cross utilization of CGST and SGST will not be permitted i.e. for the payment of SGST, input of CGST is not available and vice-a-versa.
- For the payment of CGST, first input of CGST to be used then input IGST to be used.
- For the payment of SGST, first input of SGST to be used then input IGST to be used.
- For the payment of IGST, first input of IGST to be used then input CGST and then input of SGST to be used.
Filing of Returns
An Education or Training Service provided is required to file the following returns in every financial year:
- Half Yearly Service Tax return.
- Annual Service Tax return.
- All GST Tax Returns
The GST Return are to be filed in accordance with the following norms:
| Return Form | Particulars | Due Date | Applicable For |
| GSTR-1 | Outward Supplies | 10th day of next month | Normal Taxpayer |
| GSTR-2 | Inward Supplies | 15th day of next month | Normal Taxpayer |
| GSTR-3 | Monthly return / Common Return | 20th day of next month | Normal Taxpayer |
| GSTR-8 | Annual Return | 31st December of the next FY | Normal Taxpayer/Compounding Taxpayer |
| GSTR-4 | Quarterly Return for person covered under Composition Scheme | 18h day of next month of quarter | Compounding Taxpayer |
| GSTR-5 | Return by Non Resident Taxpayer | Ø If registration period is less than month -within 7 days after the date of expiry of registration.
Ø If registration period is more than one month then to be furnished on monthly basis -20thday of next month.
|
Non Resident Taxpayer |
In addition to these, Input Service Distributor and Tax Deductors are required to file GSTR-6 and GSTR-7 respectively.
All tax details have been sourced from GSTIndia.