Apparently JDUB, the record label I am sign to, is shutting down.

Not gonna share the actual email I got from JDUB executive Jacob Harris, but here’s what they sent JTA (and it’s very similar to the message they sent me anyhow):

I’m writing to let you know that after almost 9 years in operation, JDUB’s Board of Directors has decided to wind down the organization.

The decision to close was entirely financial, as the challenges facing our business model are too great to overcome.  JDUB earned half of its annual budget from mission-related revenue, including album sales, concert tickets, and consulting fees, and the other half from foundations and individual donors.  The collapse of the music business in the decade that JDUB has existed, combined with recessionary effects and aging out of the cohort of Jewish “start-ups,” made securing the necessary operating support an insurmountable challenge.

Determined to overcome this challenge, and inspired by our mission of forging vibrant connections to Judaism, we took opportunities to expand our work beyond music beginning in 2005. We co-founded the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists, and we adopted Jewcy.com, a platform for the ideas that matter to young Jews, which is the most popular peer-run website of its kind.  We also launched a consultancy through which we helped over 30 other organizations including Hillel International, Birthright Israel Next, Nextbook Press, and Tablet Magazine to connect Jewish content, products, and experiences with new audiences.  While these strategic moves have dramatically increased our impact, they never yielded a sustainable revenue base.

Just as JDUB modeled what a new Jewish organization could look like and achieve, we will also model how one appropriately winds down.  We plan to share as much information as possible, and seek appropriate homes for our successful programs and assets…

I’m one of those assets (though hardly, as I’m sure Monsters and Healers probably sold three copies…and all of them to my mother) so I’m curious to see what happens next.

I guess that leaves Shemspeed to fill the void. I asked Erez “Diwon” Safar for his thoughts, and his reply was:

“Not much to say, besides as the artists already know, [Shemspeed is] actually all about collaboration and we are here for them.”

I’ll do a follow up article on this soon.

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