As an independent artist, Panama City-born singer, producer, and songwriter Nino Augustine knows he has his work cut out for him — especially when it comes to amplifying his presence.
Fortunately, Nino has always taken things one step at a time. “Music was everywhere around me in Panama City,” he tells DISCO of his career beginnings in Panama City, Panama, which culturally draws from a slew of musical styles and influences.
“It’s a little Caribbean — a mixture of all these amazing countries,” Nino says of Panama City. “A lot of soca, a lot of reggae, a lot of kompa music. It was everywhere around me. It was like I was destined for music.”
Setting Small Goals, Then Growing
When he was first starting out, Nino tells DISCO he was just making music for his friends. Through word of mouth, his presence grew. “I started [setting] goals,” he says. “100, then a thousand people… Then it was like, a hundred thousand. Now we’re in the millions. I’m just humbled by it.”
One of the ways Nino has grown his overall presence is with the TIDAL RISING program, which has been in place since 2015. The DSP handpicks up-and-coming artists across a variety of genres and offers them career tools and industry education — all with the purpose of helping artists to think of themselves as a brand and small business.
“I was chosen to be one of the TIDAL Rising Artists, and it feels great, because as an independent artist to have these DSP’s support is amazing. It really is so helpful,” Nino says. “I’m just blessed to have TIDAL on board and supporting everything that I do.”
“I use DISCO for everything”
Nino has been using DISCO for more than five years. Over time, the producer says he’s started “using it for everything.”
“I use DISCO when I’m sending over my sessions to my engineer — I literally send everything right there on DISCO,” he shares. “They can download it as WAV files. Or if somebody else needs an MP3, everything is right there [and] easy. You click on it and you download it right there and then.”
Receiving Files — And Feedback With DISCO
As Nino tells us, DISCO has improved his creative output because of how quickly and easily he can send new mixes and ideas to his team.
“It feels like [DISCO is] another part of what I do as far as artistry,” Nino says. “When I record a song, let’s say I bounce a rough idea that I don’t want nobody else to hear. I’ll send it over to my team, and they can literally just stream it. [After] they hear it, they can go back and give me comments and feedback. If I need to update that version, I can literally just update that version using that same link.”
When he’s working with artist clients as a producer, the same system applies . “If I want to send an idea to another artist, and I just want them to hear it and not necessarily download it, I can just share everything right there and then,” he tells DISCO. “I don’t have to go back to another platform to have everything organized in one area.”
Testing Out Album Track Lists With DISCO
As a producer, one of Nino’s biggest responsibilities is to help artists determine how their albums should flow from track to track. DISCO, he says, helps test out potential track list sequences.
“Right now I’m working on this album, and I’m playing with the track list. Sometimes, I’ll wake up and be like, ‘Track two should be track four.’ I’ll just go to DISCO and move track four to two and hear it in that sequence,” Nino says. “DISCO allows you to do all of that very easily. It’s truly amazing.”
In addition to sequencing track lists, NINO uses DISCO to write in the names of everyone who worked on the tracks, such as the songwriters. “I can add the [album] artwork, and I can put all the writers,” he says. “I can put all the information that I need right on there.”
“DISCO is the best choice ever for transferring files”
When working in the studio, Nino says he has recommended that his coworkers try out DISCO if they haven’t already. “For example, my engineer was like, ‘I’ve heard of DISCO, but I never really dove into it,” he says. “I’ve got all of them using DISCO [now].”
“It’s truly the solution for artists to share these large files. It’s the best choice ever for transferring files.”
