Aaron Bisman

Aaron Bisman is an American music executive, nonprofit founder, and digital media strategist. He is best known as the co-founder and president of JDub Records, a nonprofit record label that launched artists including Matisyahu and Balkan Beat Box into mainstream culture.

Bisman studied at Hebrew University of Jerusalem before completing a Bachelor of Arts in Music Business at New York University. While a student at NYU, he and fellow student Ben Hesse conceived the idea for JDub Records after recognizing an opportunity to connect young Jewish adults with their heritage through music outside of traditional institutional settings.^[1]

In December 2002, Bisman and Ben Hesse co-founded JDub Records, a nonprofit record and event production company based in New York City. JDub's stated mission was to "forge vibrant connections to Judaism through music, media and cultural events."^[2] The label signed and developed artists including Matisyahu, Socalled, and Balkan Beat Box, and derived half its annual income from foundations and donors and half from record and ticket sales. In March 2003, Bisman received a two-year Joshua Venture Fellowship for Jewish social entrepreneurs.^[3]

In 2005, Bisman co-founded the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists alongside the Foundation for Jewish Culture and Avoda Arts, with a $1 million grant from UJA-Federation described as the largest ever awarded by UJA to an arts organization. Under the direction of founding program director Rebecca Guber, the fellowship supported 30 emerging artists across three cohorts in New York and Los Angeles, each receiving around $40,000 over two years. The New York program closed in 2013 when UJA-Federation declined to renew its grant, redirecting resources toward Israel education and Jewish engagement programs. A UJA-Federation official stressed the decision was not a reflection of Six Points' performance, saying the fellowship had "made an incredible impact on the field."^[4]

In October 2009, JDub adopted Jewcy, an online Jewish magazine and blog, seeing it as a vehicle for sponsorships and a low-cost way to market its artists.^[5] JDub ceased operations in July 2011, with Bisman citing the collapse of the music industry, recessionary effects on foundation funding, and the organization having "aged out" of the cohort of Jewish cultural startups that had launched together in the early 2000s.^[6] Over its nine years JDub released 35 albums, with its commercial success driven primarily by Matisyahu, whose albums Live at Stubb's and Youth were both certified gold.^[7] In January 2012, JDub sold its recording catalogue to The Orchard, a division of Sony Music.^[8]

Following the closure of JDub, Bisman served as Director of Brand, Sales, and Marketing at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he launched a Grammy-nominated record company, an NPR-co-produced radio program, a branded-content studio, and a jazz-industry conference.^[9]

Bisman joined Sesame Workshop in June 2020, initially serving as vice president for Audience Development and later as Senior Vice President of Marketing. Under his leadership, Sesame Workshop's organic social channels grew to reach over one billion people per year, and his team launched Sesame.org and won multiple industry awards.^[10]

• Aaron Bisman at Sesame Workshop