Isaac Bess is the Global Head of Distribution at ByteDance and its leading short-form video platform, TikTok, with a mission to bring products to every screen in every market via partnership. Isaac has over 25 years’ experience leading businesses, with expertise in digital music, telecommunication, and online video, and a proven track record of successfully growing nascent digital and tech platforms. Isaac’s entrepreneurial mindset goes back to the earliest stages of his career at famed New York record label Matador Records. In 2018, prior to the launch of TikTok, Isaac joined ByteDance to lead telecommunications partnerships. In the ensuing years, Isaac’s Distribution team has grown in scope to include Product Partnerships as well as New Screens initiatives to pioneer non-mobile experiences for TikTok and beyond.

Prior to TikTok, after several years in Tokyo as a music journalist, Isaac moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to lead both record label and music distribution teams in the earliest days of the digital music era, closing some of the very first partnerships with the likes of Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music and more. Isaac went on to be an early member of the YouTube Music team, closing first-of-kind music partnerships around the world before moving into Product Partnerships around the launch of YouTube Premium.