Porfirio Piña (born August 16, 1965), talent manager, entrepreneur, music advocate and artistic director. He is a native of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

, currently based out of New York City, and Miami.

Career

Porfirio currently serves as the senior director of the Latin division for BMI, Broadcast Music Inc. Founded in 1939, BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 350,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music. Porfirio is also a partner at Ritmo Loco Publishing, Inc., advising artists and managing catalog of more than one hundred songs, arranging co-publishing deals for Latin America, Europe and Asia, as well as issuing licenses to record labels, TV networks and film companies. In 2005, Mr. Pina signed Ritmo Loco Publishing to an administrative deal with publishing giant

Sony/ATV Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

. Before joining BMI, Mr. Piña managed Nicolas Tovar who has written numerous hits for

Cristian Castro Christian Sáinz Valdés Castro (born 8 December 1974), known professionally as Cristian Castro or Cristian, is a Mexican pop singer. He is the son of actors Veronica Castro and Manuel "El Loco" Valdés, and nephew of actors Ramón Valdés ...

Paulina Rubio Paulina Susana Rubio Dosamantes (; born 17 June 1971) is a Mexican singer. Referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Golden Girl" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Pop", she first achieved recognition as ...

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...

La India Linda Viera Caballero (born March 9, 1969), better known as La India, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter of salsa, house music and Latin pop. La India has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, winning the Latin Grammy Aw ...

, and

Jaci Velasquez Jacquelyn "Jaci" Davette Velasquez (Spanish ''Jaci Velásquez'', born October 15, 1979) is an American actress and contemporary Christian and Latin pop singer and songwriter, performing in both English and Spanish. Velasquez has sold almost ...

among others. Mr. Pina began his

music business The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

career back in 1989, forming and managing the first-ever Merengue Hip-Hop group

Proyecto Uno Proyecto Uno (in English: Project One) is a Dominican-American hip hop/Merengue house group which helped popularize a style of music which blends Merengue music, merengue with techno, dancehall, reggae and hip-hop/rap music. The band was founde ...

. Under Porfirio's management the group went on to receive numerous Gold and Platinum Records Awards in the USA, Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Spain,

Billboard Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of t ...

, Premio Lo Nuestro Awards, Orquidea de Oro (Venezuela), ACE Awards (New York), El Casandra Awards (Dominican Republic) and Latin Grammy Nominations. In 1995, together with a former partner Porfirio created Double P Music, a

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

, that played a key role in forming, launching and managing various artists such as El Chipo (Rodven/PolyGram); Sandy & Papo MC (Platano Records/Universal); Joselito (Musart/Balboa) and

Ilegales Ilegales (also called Los Ilegales, "The Illegals") is a Grammy-nominatedRamiro Burr. "Latin Notes: Ilegales' signature sound clear on its danceable new CD," ''San Antonio Express-News'' (Texas), January 16, 2005, Culturas section, page 8J.Jor ...

( BMG US Latin). Together they created and produced remixes for

Juan Luis Guerra Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (born June 7, 1957) is a Dominican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. He has sold 30 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. Throughout his career, he has wo ...

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...

Los Hermanos Rosario Los Hermanos Rosario (''The Rosario Brothers'' in English) is a Merengue music, merengue band, originally consisting of brothers Toño Rosario, Pepe, Rafa and Luis. History Los Hermanos Rosario is an emblematic merengue music band from the Dom ...

, Roy Tavare, Amparo Sandino,

Checo Acosta Alcibiades Antonio Acosta Agudelo (June 14, 1965 in Soledad, Atlántico, Colombia) is a Colombian folk singer. Biography Acosta is the son of Alci Acosta. Discography *1989 - ''Sencillamente'' *1990 - ''Camino Real'' *1992 - ''De Colombia'' *1 ...

and others successful international artists. Between January 2001 and May 2002, Porfirio joined

Palm Pictures Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD-Video format. Palm places an emphasis on such proje ...

Ryko Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record la ...

and later Latino Music Corp where he was the Marketing Director, developing strategic sales, marketing and promotion plans for Carlos Manuel y Su Clan (Palm/Ryko),

Fernando Villalona Fernando Villalona, the first artist named "El Mayimbe" (born in Loma de Cabrera, Dajabón Province on May 7, 1955, Ramón Fernando Villalona Évora), is a Dominican merengue singer who began singing in the early 1970s, his popularity started ...

(LARAS & NARAS GRAMMY Nominee), Felix D'Oleo ( LARAS

GRAMMY The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

Nominee), Angelito Villalona,

Ramón Orlando Ramón Orlando Valoy García (born July 29, 1959), is a Dominican musician, singer, arranger, composer, record producer and songwriter, besides being a gran maestro pianist in Caribbean rhythms. Ramón Orlando received seven Casandra awards in ...

and Swing Divino amongst others.

Speaking engagements

* NALIP: Synch Licensing 101 (April 2010) * FUNGLODE: Placing Your Music in TV/Film & Synch Licenses (November 2009) *

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

: The Business of Music (November 2009) *

Latin Alternative Music Conference The Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) is a major conference geared towards the marketing of Spanish-language alternative music. It showcases what it considers the best in Latin music and the exciting fresh sounds coming out of rock, hip-h ...

: Radio Relevance-The Role of AM/FM Stations in the Digital Age (July 2009) *

Monroe College Monroe College is a private for-profit college in New York City. It was founded in 1933 and has campuses in the Bronx, New Rochelle and Saint Lucia, with an extension site in Manhattan. The college is named after James Monroe, the fifth pres ...

: Entrepreneurship & Marketing Class (May 2009) *

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

: How Multicultural Marketing Influences Your World (April 2009) *

: How Multicultural Marketing Influences Your World (October 2008) * Boston Music Conference: Copyright and Performing Rights 101 (September 2008) * Billboard Latin Conferences: BMI &

Music Business The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

101 Roundtable (April 2008) *

: The Business of Songwriting (November 2007) *

Celia Cruz Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during t ...

High School of Music: Latin Grammy en las Escuelas (October 2007) * Billboard Latin Conferences: How I Wrote That Song (April 2007) * Moderator of BMI Presents: Industry Insider Series (2005-2006-2007-2008-2009) *

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

–

School of Music A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

: Grammy Career Seminar (February 2007) *

El Museo del Barrio El Museo del Barrio, often known simply as El Museo (the museum), is a museum at 1230 Fifth Avenue in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is located near the northern end of Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile, immediately north of the Museum of the Cit ...

: Merengue Popular Music and the Industry (November 2006) * NALIP: Roundtable Film Producers and the Music Business (September 2006) *

: The Future of the Latin Music Industry (August 2005) * Mandelbaum Music Project: Music Business Careers (May 2005) * Billboard Latin Conferences: The Latin Music Industry Future (April 2005)

Professional associations

Mr. Pina is a ''voting member'' in both

NARAS The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...

(Grammy) and LARAS (Latin Grammy), as well as for The

National Academy of Popular Music The National Academy of Popular Music (NAPM) is an American organization which administers the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and sponsors a series of workshops and showcases for the songwriting profession. It was formed in 1988 by Sammy Cahn and Bob Le ...

. He is a member of The NYC

Latin Media and Entertainment Commission The government of New York City, headquartered at New York City Hall in Lower Manhattan, is organized under the New York City Charter and provides for a Mayor–council government, mayor-council system. The Mayor of New York City, mayor is electe ...

, Association of Independent Music Publisher, Dominican American National Roundtable. He is the board director for the Latin Scholarships division of The

BMI Foundation The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 by executives of Broadcast Music Incorporated for the purpose of "encouraging the creation, performance and study of music through awards, scholarships, internships, grants, and c ...

, Board Co-Chairman for The National Association of Latinos Independent Producers and is a Co-Chairman in the Latin Committee of

– NY Chapter.

Recognitions

El Diario La Prensa ''El Diario Nueva York'' is the largest and the oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States. Published by ImpreMedia, the paper covers local, national and international news with an emphasis on Latin America, as well as human-in ...

: EL Awards 2008, Successful Latinos in the USA (November 2008),

The Recording Academy The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...

: Supporting Education, Advocacy and Human Service Initiatives (February 2008), DTM Magazine: Latino Trendsetter Awards (2006).

References

External links

BMI Official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pina, Porfirio 1965 births Living people Dominican Republic businesspeople Talent managers