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

Josh, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I was able to earn a full time living from my creative work because I diversified my portfolio quite early on. I was always looking for ways to make an income through music, and this led me to discovering many different mediums that I didn’t even know existed. Some of these included: writing custom songs for people, teaching music lessons for a short time, pitching myself for performance opportunities in unconventional settings such as art gallery tours and university cafeterias.

The biggest asset to my career has also been learning how to produce music. Not only did this cut my costs significantly (because I no longer had to hire producers for my music), but I was also able to start producing for other artists as well. Today, I am writing music for various TV shows and movies such as the hit Netflix Original “Love is Blind”. I have dozens of songs released under different names that are generating a greater income for me than my personal songs even are. I’ve essentially never said no to an opportunity (unless it truly was a waste of time), and this mentality has always gotten me further ahead than if I had said no.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a full-time singer-songwriter and music producer. I’ve been making music professionally now since 2017, and since 2020, I’ve been doing it full-time. Over the past few years, I’ve been able to dip into many different avenues of the music business and make a healthy income from each of them. These days, I am primarily playing live shows (mostly at University campuses and larger festivals), I’m writing music for film and television, and I am producing music for other artists as well.

Much of my success comes from making the right connections at the right time, but the majority is simply from working harder than I’ve ever worked at anything before in my life. I studied Psychology at the University of Alberta from 2012-2017, and was simultaneously working 3 jobs to afford tuition and other expenses. This taught me a lot about a successful work ethic that I’ve now been able to carry into the running of my music business. I pride myself on my efficiency and determination, as these are the traits that have led me to where I am now and where I will continue to go.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My greatest pivoting story comes from 2020, when all my concerts and festival opportunities were cancelled due to the pandemic. These shows were going to provide me with the bulk of my income for that year, and so losing them felt like an absolute nightmare. I was able to pivot however, to producing music for other artists very early on in the pandemic. I’ve always produced my own music, and I started marketing myself as a producer as soon as my gigs were being cancelled. Because I did this early on, I was able to get a lot of work as more commercial studios were being forced to shut down. Because I run a home studio, I was able to remain open as I only had room to accommodate 1-3 people at a time. It’s because of pivoting in this way that I was able to start a full-time living doing music.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

One of the benefits of living in Canada is the access Canadians have to music grants. There are various funding bodies that release grants of different kinds for musicians and creatives to apply to. I have been fortunate to receive a handful of these grants, and they have given me the ability to kickstart my business and continue to grow it to where it is now. I still continue to receive grants occasionally, and each time I do, there is a significant growth in my career as a result.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joshsahunta.com/
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/joshsahunta
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshsahuntaa
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@JoshSahunta
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joshsahunta

Image Credits
Janice Saxon, Cody McIvor, Jacqueline Sahunta