We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ethan Shun. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ethan below.

Ethan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Financial success as a creative is hard to come by for most burgeoning artists. Every artist deals with not being paid on time, less, or sometimes not at all. A full-time living from creative work is a goal every artist strives for because it gives you the freedom to create and time to experiment. Unfortunately, problems will always be part of the human condition, with one set being traded for another. Once creativity becomes “work”, in the traditional sense, it is almost impossible to keep up with demand and be creative all the time. Artists need time to do completely nothing. In a society working and consuming nonstop, indie artists feel like they have to keep up with major artists, especially in the age of short-form content. Posting a new video or painting daily, or putting out a new song every other day is no way for an artist to live.

Even though I still deal with this burnout, I have learned to pay myself and value my work. I feel hopeful for my creative and financial future because I am able to support myself through music. I wasn’t always able to do this. I used to be a type beat producer, scrounging for every dollar I could. I found that as a creative, I need to have multiple sources of income. So, I DJ at bars and clubs weekly, I produce and engineer other people’s projects, and I teach others how to produce. These are my main sources of income as I continue to expand my own artistry and build my catalog. With these multiple sources, I have learned to value myself and not just take the first offer. Part of this is knowing my worth and skillset, and another part is being confident even if I am uncertain.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started producing when I was around 15 years old. I had always been into music, playing drums and a little bit of piano. After buying my first midi controller (Akai mpk mini) I was hooked. Every day after school I went home and created. About a year into producing, I started DJing for a mobile DJ company. This was an amazing opportunity to fund my music career and start meeting people in Cleveland, Ohio. Right, not I am a music producer and DJ based in Columbus, Ohio, finishing up my last year of school at The Ohio State University. I am president of the DJ Club at the university and DJ weekly at bars and clubs on campus. I work with a lot of different artists, producing and engineering, I DJ and produce under the alias Edizzy. My dad gave me this name in 2nd grade when we were playing guitar hero on our Wii, and it just kind of stuck. Whenever I create a composition or an idea, I always try to make something infectious.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

This is an awesome question because I see so many different answers to this. I think the best thing a society can do to support its artists is to value and pay them. It sounds simple enough, and some people say that we do get paid, but I disagree. I think there is a long way to go to where artists get the same compensation and respect as someone who is an engineer or an accountant. I think even though these occupations are different, they are both necessary, hold purpose, and should be compensated based on their value. As a society, we undervalue our art, especially our younger, less experienced artists. Art is what drives people to keep working and inspires us everyday weather we are conscious of this or not.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I feel like my whole life is a story of resilience. I could have given up a long time ago, but I get up every day and say to myself that I am going to create. sometimes I don’t know how, or when, but I think about it every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shun4.myportfolio.com/work
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ethanshun/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-shun-371b63209/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ethan_shun
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7swfkmWhOab1d113y07Lzw

Image Credits
Cecilia Silvestri Sam Wagner