Josh Kun is the inaugural vice provost for the arts at USC and professor of communication in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where he is the inaugural holder of the endowed chair in cross-cultural communication. He is the founder and ongoing director of the Popular Music Project, a music and society research lab within the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. He is the former director of the USC Annenberg School of Communication and interim dean of the USC Thornton School of Music. He is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship (2016), a Berlin Prize (2018) and an American Book Award (2006). He was nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award in the category of Best Album Notes.

He is the author of the books: The Autograph Book of L.A.: Improvements on the Page of the City (Angel City Press, 2019), Double Vision: The Photography of George Rodriguez (Hat & Beard, 2018), To Live and Dine in L.A.: Menus and the Making of the Modern City (Angel City Press, 2015), Songs in the Key of Los Angeles: Sheet Music from the Collection of the Los Angeles Public Library (Angel City Press, 2013), And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl: The Jewish Past as Told By the Records We’ve Loved and Lost (Crown, 2008, co-author) and Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America (UC Press, 2005).

He is the editor of The Tide Was Always High: The Music of Latin America in Los Angeles (University of California Press, 2017); Black and Brown in Los Angeles: Beyond Conflict and Coalition, co-editor with Laura Pulido (University of California Press, 2013); Sound Clash: Listening to American Studies, co-editor with Kara Keeling (John Hopkins University Press, 2013); Tijuana Dreaming: Life and Art at the Global Border, co-editor with Fiamma Montezemolo (Duke University Press, 2012); and The Song Is Not The Same: Jews and American Popular Music (Purdue University Press, 2011). His articles and essays have appeared in numerous books, academic journals, exhibition catalogues and anthologies. As a journalist and critic, his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and many other publications. In 2023, he produced and co-hosted the short film series, Cultures in the Crossfade, which used music to examine belonging and political polarization in the United States. He co-edits the book series Refiguring American Music for Duke University Press.

As a curator, his exhibitions, projects and public programs have appeared with Getty, The Los Angeles Public Library, LACMA, California African American Museum, The Grammy Museum, Huntington Library and Art Museum, Contemporary Jewish Museum and more. As an artist, his work has appeared with SFMOMA, Prospect New Orleans and Steve Turner Gallery.