After many years as an actor, Kavinsky's musical career started in 2005 after being inspired by his close friends Jackson Fourgeaud and Quentin Dupieux, the latter director also included Kavinsky's music in his film Steak . During this period Kavinsky produced his first single Testarossa Autodrive which was inspired by the Testarossa model of Ferrari (one of which Vincent drives in real life). Kavinsky presented the single to Quentin, who in turn presented it to a record label he had access to because of his filming career, and Kavinsky signed with Record Makers. Subsequently Kavinsky has gone on to release three EPs on the Record Makers label: Teddy Boy in 2006, 1986 a year later, and Nightcall with Lovefoxxx of CSS in 2010. During this period, Kavinsky's fellow producer Surkin jokingly claimed in an interview that Kavinsky was his father and has since toured alongside Daft Punk, The Rapture, Justice, and Sebastian in 2007.

He has also been remixed by Sebastian and other notable electro artists. The Sebastian remix of Testarossa Autodrive off the 1986 EP is featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

Kavinsky's single Nightcall was featured in the opening credits of the film Drive, and became a major hit soon after, with YouTube views claiming over 30 million to date (March 6, 2013). Kavinsky has recently announced that he will appear on the upcoming video game Grand Theft Auto V on the in-game radio station "NightRide FM".

In December 2012 he released ProtoVision and on 25 February 2013 he released a new studio album entitled OutRun.