Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Vietti.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started playing the violin when I was four years old. My family didn’t have a lot of money, but I was able to receive a violin scholarship when I was seven years old and had the privilege of studying under Mischa Lefkowitz of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for ten years. I was also gifted a violin as a child from a French philanthropist. I am very grateful for the solid foundation.
In high school, the violin kind of fell by the wayside, and instead I focused on sports and surfing. I went to Cal State Long Beach for college, got a degree in communications, and then got a “real job” doing sales. After work, I started making music for fun in Garage Band (a music software), mixing violin with beats and I instantly fell in love with the combination of beats with classical violin. It sounded awesome.
I lived in Orange County but knew that people street performed in Santa Monica and wanted to test out the music I was creating. So, I pressed my own CDs, wrote the titles of the songs using a sharpie, took 50 CDs in a box, a small amp, and headed up to Santa Monica on a weekend. In less than ten minutes I had a huge crowd, sold all of my CDs, and then got kicked out for not having a permit. Two things happened: I realized I could make money making music and also that it was a ton of fun.
So, I figured out how to get a permit, had CDs professionally pressed, and started street performing or “busking” on the weekend. A few months into it I quit my full-time job and got a part-time job. A few months later I was selling so many CDs that I quit my part-time job and street performed (busked) full time. Between 2006 and 2011 I sold over 50,000 CDs on the street. I made it my full-time job and set sales goals daily. Usually, I would try to sell 100 per day on the weekends and 50 per day during the week. It was a grind. And this was before I had ever started streaming music.
In 2009 I got married. My beautiful wife’s name is Darla Vietti. You may want to interview her on her career as a very successful graphic designer. She designed clothes for Quiksilver, Hurley, Billabong, then started her own freelance wedding stationery business called Darla Marie Designs which she still runs today as well as working as a graphic designer for Harry Winston (luxury international jewelry company).
In 2010 I was hired to play a street performer in the 2010 NBA All-Star Game commercial. A year later (2011) I was invited to perform on the Ellen DeGeneres show. A day later I was called by ARIA in Las Vegas to play at a corporate event for the biggest check I had received up until that date. Darla and I also had our first son in 2011. I flew my wife, baby boy, and mother-in-law out to see me. They got to enjoy the hotel/per diem life while I was in rehearsals and performing. I loved it every minute. I had gone from a street performer to being a professional artist “overnight” haha.
I started opening up for several artists, such as Ne-Yo, Earth Wind & Fire, Fabolous, Lil Wayne, and also performed for Michael Jordan at his Celebrity Invitational at the ARIA Resort & Casino.
In 2013 my wife and I had our second beautiful baby boy.
In 2014 I was featured in a commercial every Sunday on ESPN’s NFL Countdown playing my violin rendition of 50 Cent’s “In Da Club”. Then I was invited to play several songs LIVE on air for the ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown holiday special. That was incredible.
In 2015 I started performing at major jazz festivals across the country, such as the Seabreeze Jazz Fest, Catalina Jazz Fest, Jacksonville Jazz Fest, and many more.
I also continued performing at major corporate events for companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Dell Boomi.
Within the past few years, I have performed LIVE with artist/comedian Lil Duval at Powerhouse in New York opening up for Cardi B. I also got to perform for Dr. Dre at The Game’s 40th birthday party, then a few months later got to open up for Snoop Dogg performing with Trae Tha Truth at the House of Blues in Houston, TX. I have also performed on multiple albums with rap superstar French Montana on songs such as “Salam Alaykum”, “Losing Weight” and “Touch the Sky” featuring Rick Ross and John Legend.
At the end of February of 2020, I performed in front of a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall in New York City, warming up the stage for Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias and Latin American comic superstar Franco Escamilla.
I was feeling on top of the world and then a few weeks later in March 2020 the Covid pandemic happened and in a matter of one week, every gig that I had booked for the entire year was canceled. This is how I earn a living and provide for my family and it was huge blow. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut and I had to figure out how to keep income coming in with zero gigs since no one was having LIVE events and everyone was required to quarantine and provide for my wife and two kids.
I started doing LIVE virtual events via Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube and asked for donations. That helped keep me on my feet. I was determined to keep going though and used my “free time” to record three albums and six singles which I released in 2020. Most notably, I released an original album titled Never Give Up. It was more of a message to myself, but became very popular and started streaming very well. I was able to successfully pivot from more of a LIVE performance artist to a recording and streaming artist.
I’m back to performing at LIVE events, although bookings are definitely not the way they used to be. There is a very noticeable change in the LIVE event space climate. My main focus now is recording and releasing original content. There are still some stand-out corporate clients that throw some amazing events. My next corporate event is for Comerica Bank Women’s Business Symposium. I have worked with them before and they are an amazing group of professional business women. I am honored to be able to entertain them on stage in between their keynote speakers.
Currently, I am working on a new original album and have just recently released a single called “Insomniac Energy”. You can check out the music video on YouTube and the song is streaming on all platforms.
When I’m not recording music or performing at events, Darla and I spend most of our time with our boys who are both incredible swimmers and water polo players as well as musicians themselves now.
Also, during the pandemic, I built a pretty sweet garage gym and spend usually an hour a day lifting. It’s a great way to clear my head and have some time to myself. I have other ambitions (hobbies) such as hunting and surfing, but it’s crazy trying to fit them in my busy schedule.
Ultimately, I’d like to. be able to just perform my own concerts across the country and release original music. My last LIVE concert to the public was at the Foundation Room at the House of Blues in Houston, TX. It was sold out and Houston rap legend Lil Troy showed up and made a cameo on stage with me to his song “Wanna Be A Baller”. It was pretty epic and I’d love to replicate that show across the US, adding in an MC, a vocalist, and a DJ. I think that would create the perfect Vegas-like show and be a lot of fun.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Finding a balance between being a husband, a dad, and a traveling musician has been a challenge. I often have turned down opportunities because it entailed being away from home for too long. I also started my career selling CDs. They no longer exist and now it is a streaming landscape. The corporate event space has changed too since Covid. People are reluctant to book events if they think they will have to cancel or reschedule, which almost never happened prior to 2020 and now happens regularly. I have to work at things daily to stay current and find where the money is in the music business.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am generally billed as a “Hip-Hop Violinist”, although I sometimes incorporate country, pop, jazz, and classical music styles into my repertoire. My specialty is definitely as a Hip-Hop Violinist though. Just Google “Hip-Hop Violin”. I should have the first video that pops up. Although there are others that do it, I will go head-to-head with any of them. What set’s me apart from them is sixteen years of professional experience performing, recording, and polishing my craft. Although I am classically trained, I play by ear and am pretty good at improvising.
We’d love to hear about what you think about risk-taking?
I would say I am an educated risk-taker. I’ll swing for the fences and have often failed. But I keep getting back up and going for it. I have a theory that you need to handle your practical day-to-day business while also chasing fantasies. You have to handle your day-to-day bread and butter business, even if it’s not “sexy” because that pays the bills. But you also have to go for major opportunities that may require investing in yourself and putting yourself out there. I think a balance of the two will help you realize your full potential while also earning a living.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://www.joshvietti.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshvietti/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshviettiviolin
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshvietti
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jvietti
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@josh_vietti
Image Credits
Ben Shani
