By Marc “Mookie” Kaczor, SDUN Reporter

North Park resident Josh Damigo isn’t rich, he’s never had a platinum record, never sold out Viejas Arena, never opened for U2; however, he’s a professional musician who writes, records and performs often in San Diego – and earns money doing it.

Damigo’s musical journey started in 2004 after tearing some ligaments in his knee in an accident while playing in a pick-up basketball game. There wasn’t much he could do during the recovery time, being holed up at home with his knee healing, besides rent video games and play guitar.

Damigo started writing his own songs and many of his friends immediately encouraged him to take the stage to showcase his talent. It took Damigo two months of showing up at the open mic night at Lestat’s on Adams Avenue before he felt courageous enough to take the stage.

Soon after, Damigo quickly found out how an independent artist not only can receive royalty payments for getting occasional spins on terrestrial radio, but also from internet plays and performing their own music at shows, primarily through self-promotion.

Damigo knows how relentless an indie artist has to be when it comes to promotion. He maintains that only five percent of the music business is actually making the music and the other 95 percent is networking, booking shows, working with promoters and maintaining an online presence. Like many independent artists, Damigo turned to his fans to help fund his upcoming album, raising over $6,000 through a Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter.com is a website where fans are encouraged to donate to help artists fund things like studio time, distribution or a tour.

Additionally, Damigo encourages musicians to look into getting royalties through SESAC, which at one point was an acronym, but currently is not an abbreviation for anything, as well as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) or Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). SESAC and BMI are free to join for any musician who is serious about making a living by making music, and there is a fee to join ASCAP. All these organizations are designed to help musicians earn money for the music they play.

“SESAC has single-handedly allowed me to become a full-time artist. More artists could easily emerge from San Diego if they took the time to study the business side of their art,” he said.

Since his first open mic appearance, Damigo has released the Pocket Change EP in 2007, the single “Love Again” was featured in the indie film Bad Faith and his 13-track album “Raw” took home a San Diego Music Award for best acoustic in 2009.

A thinking man’s songwriter, Damigo learned business principles by earning a master’s degree in organizational management and has researched and discovered the music business all by himself. The days of working odd jobs in coffee shops, retail stores and doing data entry are now in the past.

Damigo’s musical influences come from artists like Jim Croce, Shawn Mullin, Ryan Adams and San Diego’s acclaimed Americana act Berkley Hart. New music from Josh Damigo, produced by Jeff Berkley of Berkley Hart, is expected in May followed by a tour of the United States.

The new material will sound a bit different than the standard acoustic songs to which his fans are accustomed. There will be more musicians tapped to contribute more instruments and more electric guitar fuzz. Damigo performs frequently at Uptown venues such as Lestat’s and he’s got a residency starting soon at House of Blues.