He is credited with coining the term "ethnomusicology" as a more accurate name for the field then known as comparative musicology.

Impressed, he decided to remain in Java to study Indonesian music, while the other members of his trio departed.

[2] Taking a job as an official in the colonial government, Kunst remained in Java for fifteen years.

[2][4] He ceded much of his collection to the Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen (now the National Museum of Indonesia).

[2] In 1934, Kunst returned to the Netherlands, and he became the curator of Amsterdam's Colonial Museum (now the Royal Tropical Institute) in 1936.

In 1956, Kunst released a bestselling album of folk songs, on Folkways Records, entitled Living Folksongs and Dance-Tunes from the Netherlands.

[4] Kunst believed musical study must take into account the cultural context of its creation.