Porfirio Piña, the longtime senior director of writer/publisher relations at BMI, has left the organization to launch his own management and consulting agency. Porfirio Piña Entertainment, which officially launched today (Aug. 16), will be based in New York. Its client roster includes two producers-Pavel De Jesús and Richie Peña (Chino y Nacho)-and two singer/songwriters-Vladimir Dotel (of merengue group Ilegales) and bachata act J’Martin.

“This is a new era to market artists,” says Piña, who already had his own management company prior to joining BMI eight years ago. “The industry is changing and if you don’t seize the opportunities out there today, you are going to miss the boat.”

Handling Dotel is a return home of sorts, as Piña put together Ilegales in the mid 1990s. Ilegales is currently featured in the Elvis Crespo No. 1 hit “Yo No Soy Un Monstruo,” which Dotel penned. Likewise, Piña has also worked extensively with De Jesús, with whom he launched PNP Productions in 1989 and launched merengue hip-hop band Proyecto Uno, Ilegales and Sandy y Papo.

Piña will remain close to BMI as president of the BMI Foundation, Inc, a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1985 dedicated to encouraging the creation, performance and study of music through awards, scholarships, internships, grants, and commissions.
Read more at http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/genre/latin/porfirio-pina-launches-managment-company-1007850952.story#KVhI5KIkV81k3tcM.99