We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rolando Nieves a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rolando thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

How did you learn to do what you do?

Growing up, I pursued sports, academics and did a little bit of music and art on the side.. but my father was the first one to get me into music and my mother was the first to get me into visual art. I started taking and editing photos / videos, and doing music as a hobby. I never really made music my main thing until high school ended. My father always gave me slight nudges but never forced me to do anything I didn’t already express interest in. I met my best friend Anthony at the end of high school and he was the first person I met that shared a similar passion to music as I did. He ended up showing me how to use Ableton Live and I switched from Reason to Ableton and never switched back. I went on a very hard musical deep dive between 2015 and 2020 that made me realize this is what I wanted to do forever.

Since those days I have been self taught using youtube and other artists advice / teachings. I have essentially made 3 beats a day and began to grow my network within music by attending events, supporting releases online, and contacting promo companies to add value to their campaigns. I have also done extensive research on my own about mixing vocals and have gotten a lot of experience doing it over the last 5 years! I also began to garner a passion for developing other artists brands.. I thought that maybe combining my skillsets into one thing would allow me to serve under represented artists in my own community and could send a ripple through the industry as a whole. I became manager of Golden Child which is the brand Anthony currently releases music under. This experience lead me to understand the need for a proper artist development platform. I began to wear many different hats as manager of the project but this gave me the on site experiences needed to thrive in creative spaces.

Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process?

I think first and foremost just starting earlier would’ve been the key. I think I made my first beat at 10 years old.. and edited my first video game clips when i was like 11 or 12.. but I didn’t really decide to take it seriously until I turned 17 and Anthony and I began motivating each other to improve. I think also just learning what every thing does in the respective softwares I used daily would’ve set me up for major success.. I think playing less video games might’ve helped maybe lol.

What skills do you think were most essential?

I believe that having strong communication skills has been one of my defining traits. In creative environments you need to be a great ear and also be a good speaker and have discernment about when its time to use each skill. When developing artists and building creative projects there are a lot of back and forth moments that need to be lead with respect and integrity. You cannot lead a team to victory if you cannot have the hard conversations and communicate them in love. I have learned that being someone who cares deeply for others and cares how I am making others feel at all times has been my biggest asset when pursuing professional work in any industry. I have figured out ways to be confident in my own plans and objectives while also leaving space to give other professionals the floor to have their dreams come true.

Collaboration is key and being a team player will get you way farther along than going it alone.

What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

If I am honest with myself I would say just my own internal doubts have always played a part in mental limitation. I think because I work a day job and still devote so much time to that it has always diminished the amount of time I have to commit to my passion. When I do finally have the time it is very limited so always feeling like I need to hustle through and rush through the work sometimes takes it’s toll.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Rolando Nieves. I am a content creator, brand manager and music producer from Far Rockaway, Ny. I now reside in Orlando, FL. I am the creator of Intrigue Artists and Artist Manager for Golden Child, aedfx, and mitch$$$.

My father was a rapper from Far Rockaway, NY. He always kept his love for music around him. He had lots of music gear, and records for me to play with and listen to growing up which influenced my creative choices. My mother had me watching sci-fi movies and intelligent thriller films such as the fifth element, the matrix trilogy, the bourne trilogy, and much more. I began to have a love for visuals, arts, music, and games which began to make me curious to understand how to build worlds and storylines myself. Youtube became my stomping ground to practice and learn new techniques and put them to use. I ended up taking graphic design class and tv productions in school and instantly fell in love with the entertainment industry.

I got into high school and played a lot of sports aswell and that kind of took over my attention for awhile. During football season I ended up tearing my acl, mcl, and meniscus in a single injury, and never performed the same again, but in my down years I decided to join choir as a bass / tenor. This new learning ignited my brain in an amazing way. Something about music felt natural to me and I felt like I needed to cling to this feeling. i ended up making it to all county singing competitions each year after, and felt extremely committed to improving my skills in music. My dad had always provided a small studio space to make music that I kinda used off and on in my youth.. but I finally started using it now with the extra downtime I had.

Whenever my knee healed I decided to do track and field to have a year to strengthen it and still compete. That year is when I met one of my closest friends Anthony Vinciguerra. He is a music producer, sound engineer, and programmer, but at 16 years old we just knew each other because I heard him reference an obscure artist I thought no one on earth could ever know (Troyboi) during a track practice. We formed an instant bond.. and in times where we both doubted our future in music, we were able to motivate each other through it. We began making beats together but I would mostly just watch him and learn. His skill with Ableton was like no other and I eventually switched to it by his advice.

I went off to college in NY and left Anthony behind in FL but we pretty much talked daily, exchanging tracks and other music and art related projects we started or liked. The summer I returned home I had the pleasure of seeing Anthony’s first live show as Golden Child and I was mind blown of the world I had just entered into. People lining up blocks down the road to see weird experimental music and express themselves freely. Anthony finally getting a chance to show people his music. Amazing.

I couldn’t see Anthony head into this world without someone looking out for him! That’s my brother.. so I decided to get hip and read a few books about artist management. I got a few mentors and learned all I could, and decided I should get Anthony more opportunities because I genuinely believed in his music. With no experience at all I began to just dive into the world of live events by supporting peoples projects, going to live shows, working events, and supporting creators releases online. These early experiences gave us a chance to understand how the framework of the industry works and how to properly navigate an artists career. The ideas started flowing on how I could impact the community I loved so much.

I envisioned a one stop shop for talented and committed individuals to have marketing tools, content creation, and professional development at their fingertips, and give under represented artists a chance to poke through to the next level of the industry. It can be tough as an indie artist to get your music played or listened to, but throughout my career I have built a web of trusted brands that can each provide their resources to help. Whether that is through bookings for events, endorsements, or other brand deals or sync deals, we have a place that makes it easy to navigate whatever your career has coming next. I started to get my artist booked and started dropping music that was being played around the world and i began to truly believe I had what it takes. I also began to build my own image for my brand development services so I could begin the process of making the dream real. Soon after, I was approached by Amy Nicole Sabas, Marketing Director of Alliance Events. She is one of my best friends in music. I had attended her events early on so much and they made me fall in love with live music. They opened my eyes up on the right way to do things in this space. She approached me and asked if I wanted to work on some projects together. Of course my answer was yes, and since then she has mentored me and helped me grow into a force for change within the industry.

Over time when I had more room on my roster I reached out to aedfx who has always been one of my favorite artists and music producers of all time. I shot my shot and we decided to team up. He saw the value in my understanding of the music we make and why it mattered to have someone that cared in this way on your side. This allowed him to get his first Tampa, FL play at Shipwrecked Music Festival where I was able to expose him to the entire family we are building here.

We have gotten our artists on various tours in the southeast region of the U.S. aswell as many festivals. Most notably EDC ORLANDO, Okeechobee Music Festival (OKEECHOBEE), The Untz Festival (SACRAMENTO) , Shipwrecked Music Festival (TAMPA) aswell as DEF (ATLANTA). We also have gotten some of our artists placements with rising stars within the industry, most notably Isaiah Falls, and Lindsay Clarke, aswell as Wahid and Mitch$$$.

We are hoping to build more momentum as the year goes on leading into our official launch.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I want to own a studio / creative facility I can use to develop artists from top line to the released and published work. I don’t want nepotism or money to decide who gets recognition. I want the game to be based on skills, talent and hard work. I use this goal to push me to make choices with integrity and honesty at the forefront. I want to push out the organizations who don’t give women of color opportunities and rid the industry of companies leaning on regurgitated acts that aren’t pushing the standard.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Each time I was asked to work on a project whether it be a flyer, or a video, or even a post online, I always try my absolute best and give it the full effort needed for success.

Most companies I have worked alongside of have recognized the value I was adding to the table by being a great communicator aswell. I am able to learn very quickly and adjust to the needs of the person I am serving and I never let any challenge stand in my way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://beacons.ai/intrigueartists
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/managerrj/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolando-nieves-153105331/

Image Credits

Hannah Lawrence
Zach DeLoach
Lane Jackman
Ramonsview